Cowboys & Kisses
by stress
Summary: Read the updated, and rewritten, version of this story: Sealed With a Kiss. Same plot, more detail and better grammar.
1. Layna

**04/04/06 EDIT;  
**I've decided to leave _Cowboys & Kisses_ alone just the way it is. However, I will be revising, rewriting, reuploading a cleaner (& better) cut of this story, _Sealed with a Kiss_. I hope you check that out – I'm really excited with the rewrite so far. – _Stress_.

---

**  
August 12, 1899**

**Dear Journal,**

**It's happened again. I was sitting with Kayla and Ryan by Kayla's bunk this afternoon when it happened again. I don't know why it happened but it did. One moment we were talking and it happened. Again.**

"Hey Layna, you'se such a jokah." Kayla Lynch flipped her long red curls over her shoulder and grinned at raven-haired girl sitting on the bunk in front of her.

"Really, Kay? I had no idea dat ya felt dat way." Layna Kotliar's blue eyes gleamed with mischief as she basked in the attention she was receiving from Kayla and Ryan, two of her friends in the 5th Street Orphanage. Actually, they were more like her companions, really. Layna hadn't had any real friends, apart from her trusty journal, since _that day _when she was seven years old, almost eleven years ago.

"An' you'se such a perdy jokah, too." Ryan added, his hazel eyes twinkling as he winked in her direction.

Layna blushed and turned her head. Ryan had been flirting with her non-stop for the past two weeks, and she was getting a little bit nervous. Despite her reputation, Layna was afraid of guys and barely knew how to act around them. "T'anks, Ryan."

Ryan got up from the bunk from which he was perched and sauntered next to Layna's side. "No problem, sugah." He leaned over and gave her a hug. No one could accuse Ryan Lynch of being shy.

Once she felt his arms around her, Layna grew rigged and stiff. It was happening again.

_"Hey sweetness._ _What's a li'l goil like you'se doin' out in da big, bad streets o' da Bronx by yerself?" The man, old, dirty and, by the look and smell of it, extremely drunk, slurred in the seven-year-old Layna's direction as she stood on the street in front of her parents' apartment building._

_"I'se waitin' for me pa, mistah."_ _Though her mother and father always warned her not to speak to strangers, Layna was never one to listen._

_"Really... An' wheah is yer pa?" The man walked over to Layna so that she was standing directly in front of him._

_"He's inside da hous--" Layna's words were cut off when the man placed his hands over her mouth and enveloped her in a tight bear hug. Despite the dirt and odor of the man's hand, Layna did the only thing she could do-- She bit down on his hand and hard._

_"Why, you'se li'l..." the man cursed as he moved his hand from her mouth, giving her the opportunity to shriek one word "Pa!"_

_Upon hearing his daughter's panicked screech, Philippe Kotliar rushed from the apartment building, with his wife Marie right behind him. "Unhand my daughter, you scum!" he yelled, trying to tackle the man._

_The man threw Layna easily to the side and lunged at Philippe. "Ya shouldn't a said dat, pal." he hissed as he withdrew a knife from his pocket and thrust it into Philippe's side._

_"Philippe, no!" cried Marie, as she ran forward and threw her arms around her dying husband._ _"How dare you?" she sobbed at the man who stood crazed in the moonlight._

_"Like dis." he sneered as he plunged the same knife used to kill her husband, directly into Marie's backside. "Now, for me prize." he chuckled to himself and turned to grab the little girl._

_But she was gone._

"Layna, are you'se O.K.?" Kayla's face floated before her eyes. It was a face feigning concern, with fear behind it. She was afraid of Layna.

Layna stumbled off of the bunk and collapsed to the floor. "Yeah, I'se fine." She lifted her right hand to her head and tried to alieve the throbbing pain.

Ryan slowly backed away from Layna, disgust written all over his face. "What is wrong wit' you'se, ya freak."

Layna looked up at the boy, shaking slightly. "Ryan..."

"You'se jist a freak, goil. Stay away from me." He continued walking backwards, his hand reaching behind him to find the doorknob. "Kayla, let's leave da freak alone."

Kayla looked where Layna remained sitting on the floor. "Bye, freak." With those last spiteful words, Kayla followed her brother out of the bunkroom.

**I won't be able to ever face them again! Every time I have had those spells, ever since the day I lost my family, I've been alone so no one has had to witness it. But, that changed today. The two people who were the closest I've ever had to friends know think I'm a loon. I can't live with people who know that something's wrong with me. I've kept my past to myself for the past ten years or so, and I don't think it's high time for anyone to know now. Even though I know there's only a week until my 18th birthday, and once I'm 18 I could leave the orphanage forever, I can't wait that week. It's just you and me, Journal, just the way I like it. I--**

"Damn!" Layna swore, throwing down her pen on her bunk, as a sharp pain blinded her momentarily. She rested her head into her hands, letting her long, straight, black hair fall over her shoulders. It was happening again.

_Layna panted heavily as she hid behind a box in a nearby alley. She trembled slightly as she held onto her knees and sobbed quietly._

_"Li'l goil... Wheah are you'se? Eddie don't wanna hoit you'se, he wants ta be yer friend..." The dirty man was getting closer and closer._

_Layna pulled herself to her knees and peeked out from behind the box. The man was out, standing in the dim moonlight, right across from the alley where she lay hidden. Layna gasped in surprise when she saw the man still brandishing the large knife that had just murdered her parents. This man wanted to be her friend? If he wanted to be her friend, why did he hurt her mommy and daddy?_

_The man, Eddie, paused when he heard Layna's gasp. "C'mon, sweetie. Eddie's gonna be yer friend. You'se'll like Eddie."_

_Layna curled back up into a ball and stopped breathing for a moment. She couldn't let the man find her._

Layna woke up in surprise, still laying flat on her belly, her right cheek glued to the page she had been writing on. "Must o' dozed off for a wee bit." she murmured to herself as she rubbed her head. The headache was slowly fading, but the memories would always be there.

She sat up on her bunk and tried to remember what had been happening right before she had fallen asleep. She scrambled to her feet and ran to her feet. "Good, it's still dark out." Grabbing her bag from under her bunk, Layna shoved the only other outfit she owned and the ragged sheet on her bed inside and pocketed her journal. Judging by the grandfather clock in the lobby of the orphanage, there was still enough time to go outside before curfew. If you behaved long enough to put yourself in the headmistress's good graces, Madame Pearson would let you go out as long as you were back by eleven.

"Where are you going, Miss Layna?" Madame Pearson inquired, pointing to the bag clutched in her hand.

"Just to visit some of my friends, Madame Pearson. I'll be back by curfew." _Friends?_ What a lousy excuse.

"Sure thing, dear. Don't forget, dear, curfew is only half an hour away." Madame Pearson didn't really care what you were doing as long as you yes-ed her to death.

"See ya." _Yeah, see ya nevah 'gain..._ Layna finished the thought in her mind, as she exited the doors of the 5th Street Orphanage for the last time.

Once she was outside, she breathed a sigh of relief. _Freedom..._ She hadn't realized how much the orphanage had crowded her until she was outside. "Now wheah do I go from heah?" She looked all around the dim and dirty streets of New York. She hadn't thought about that before she left the orphanage, but she was **not** prepared to go back and face the horrified faces of Kayla and Ryan. Once was enough for a lifetime.

Figuring that it would be better to sleep her faint headache off, Layna slumped down against a brick wall and pulled her sheet out of her bag. Luckily, it was a nice summer evening and the thin sheet was sufficient to keep her comfortable.

Layna stretched her arms and snuggled up against the wall, trying to find the softest patch of dirt on the roadside. She yawned and reached back into her bag, pulling out her journal. With a sigh, she opened her journal with the intent to finish her previous entry.

**Dear Layna, **

Layna giggled in excitement. There was another message, a new message, in her journal. Her eyes raced through the childish writing on the page, eager to see the signature at the bottom. _Kisses_. She didn't know who Kisses was, or how she was able to write in Layna's journal when it never left her sight, but the little girl never failed to leave her encouraging little messages.

**Dear Layna,**

**Don't be nervous and don't be afraid. It's just you and me, Layna, just like it's always been. Those jerks were just holding you back, keeping you from yourself. Don't pay any attention to their hurtful words-- they don't know anything about us. Anyway, even if they did, they wouldn't understand. Nobody ever will. It's just you and me, Layna. I will protect you.**

**Love, **

**  
Kisses**

Layna fell asleep under the moonlight, a smile on her face. Kisses' journal entries often had that effect on her.


	2. Secrets

---

**  
August 13, 1899 **

**Dear Journal,**

**You'll never believe what happened to me today! It all started when I was shaken roughly awake this morning...**

"Hey goily, wake up." The young man sneered down upon Layna, while waking her up.

Layna's eyes sprang open and she jumped back when she saw three people standing in front of her, two boys and a girl, all around her age. By instinct, Layna reached for her journal and clutched it to her chest.

The girl scowled and smacked the boy on his arm. "Morris Delancey, what are you'se doin'? Can't ya see da goil was tryin' ta sleep?"

Morris forgot about Layna for the moment and turned to face the other boy. "Oscah, can't ya keep Gip's mouth shut? She's yer goil aftah awl."

Oscar wrapped his arms around Gip protectively. "I'll do no such t'ing, Morris. Me Gip kin say anyt'ing she likes."

Morris rolled his eyes. "Why did me bruddah hafta fall fer dat goil? An' she's a newsie no less. Sheesh."

Gip stepped forward, calmly reaching for the knife she kept hidden in her boot as she did so. Oscar caught the motion and pulled her close to him. "Morris, I know you'se still don't like da newsies an' awl, but dey ain't so bad since da strike ended last month."

Morris narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Oscah, ya only say dat cause now dat you'se wit' Gip, Cowboy don't soak you'se no moah." He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

As the two brothers quarelled, Layna began to gather her things up so she could sneak away from them quietly. "Ya can't trust no one." she murmured to herself as she got to her feet.

Morris heard the rustling and turned around. "An' wheah do you'se t'ink yer goin'? I ain't done tawkin' ta you'se yet."

"Morris, if you'se gonna stay heah an' torchah poor goils, we'se gonna head ovah ta da distribution centah ta help Mistah Reilly. Now be nice." Oscar gently led Gip away. He saw the fire in her dark eyes and was afraid that Gip was going to soak his brother.

Morris ignored Oscar's comments and rounded on Layna. "What are you'se doin' sleepin' out heah?"

Layna clamped her mouth shut and began to tremble.

Morris looked at Layna quizzically and his tough expression softened. "Hey, are you'se O.K.?" He reached out his hand to rest it on her shoulder.

Layna's hand flew to her head as she shrieked in pain, stopping only briefly to take two steps away from Morris. It was happening again.

_The seven-year-old girl remained as still as it was possible for a seven-year-old to be. Even at such a young age, she was aware of the danger she would be in if that man, that Eddie, found her._

_"Honey, I know you'se ovah heah somewheah. An' when I find you-- Why good evenin' officah."_

_Layna's breath caught in her throat when she heard another voice. "Why sir, why do you have a knife behind your back?"_

_"Knife, officah? What knife? Oh, do you'se mean dis knife?" _

_Layna peeked her head out from behind her hiding space once more and nearly shrieked when she saw Eddie lunge at the policeman. "No!" she yelled, running forward._

"Noooo!" The seventeen-year-old Layna yelled before collapsing to the ground.

"Damn." swore Morris as he witnessed the girl fall. "What's goin' on heah?" he muttered as he lifted her into his arms. All he had done was try to reassure the girl that he wasn't going to do anything to her and she had started to quake. Her eyes had rolled to the back of her head so that only the whites of her eyes were shown, and then she yelled the one word before passing out.

"Hey Morris, what do you'se t'ink you'se doin?" came a voice calling from the direction of the distribution center. Morris almost dropped the girl; it was the voice of the only person who had been able to soak him repeatedly-- Cowboy.

Morris slowly turned around and grinned a shady grin. He was right. Approaching him from the opposite side of the street was Cowboy, also known as Jack, his selling partner, David and his girl, Stress. "Cowboy, Stress, Davey, nice ta see you'se dis fine summah moinin'."

When Stress saw that there was an unconcious girl in his arms, she gasped. "Morris, what are you'se doin' wit' dat goil?" she demanded, her golden eyes flashing yellow.

Morris, on the other hand wasn't going to give any answers to Jack's new girl. "It ain't none o' yer business, Stressie, _deah_." he drawled sarcastically as he tried to walk past the three of them.

Cowboy handed his stack of papers to David and stepped forward. "Foist o' awl, Morris, da only one dat kin cawl Stress by dat name is me. Second o' awl, if she asks you'se a question, ya answah her. Undahstood?"

Morris nodded meakly, while secretly planning on how he would try to get Jack back sooner or later. That's the only way Morris was able to hold his tongue to keep from angering Jack.

Stress laughed and strolled to Jack's side. "An' like I said, Morris, what are you'se doin' wit' dat goil?"

"I--I--I found her like dis."

"Liah." she said with a touch of humor. The, turning to face Jack, she announced, "Hey, Jack, I t'ink he's lyin', don't you'se?"

Adapting her bemused expression, Jack nodded. "Yes, Stressie. I t'ink dat he's lyin'. Morris," he said, now addressing Morris, "I'se gonna give you'se ta da count o' none ta put da goil down an' leave her deah. Me, Stress and Dave'll take care o' her."

Morris looked at the delicate girl in his arms and shrugged. She was too much trouble, even if she did have a pretty face. "Heah ya go, Cowboy. Enjoy." he sneered, trying to look intimidating. In reality, he only looked like an idiot as he placed Layna into Jack's arms and strutted off.

"Well, Stressie, I don't t'ink we'se gonna be sellin' our papes right now." Jack shifted Layna in his arms so that he would be able to point to the papers still in David's hands. "Foist t'ings foist, t'ough. Do you'se got any extra bunks ovah at da Bottle Alley Lodgin' House?"

Stress nodded, long blondish-brown curls bobbing up and down in rhythm with the movement. "Mrs. Cook is awlways sayin' we could use a couple extra goils in da lodgin' house."

"Good. David, do you'se wanna come wit' us ta find out who dis goil is, or do you'se wanna go find yer bruddah an' sell wit' him?"

David, whose eyes had been glued to the unconscious girl the whole while, looked up abruptly upon being spoken to. "What, huh? Did you say something Jack?"

Jack sighed and began to head towards Bottle Alley. "Jist follow me an' Stress, Dave."

Stress hung back and started to poke fun at David. "Oooh, I t'ink someone's in love..." she joked, laughing gleefully when she noticed that his face had turned bright red.

"I wouldn't even get me started, Stress. I have enough dirt on the relationship you and Jack have had these last four years to keep me joking for many moons to come."

Stress' laughed died right away. She had hoped that once she and Jack made their relationship public almost a week ago, that everyone would have forgotten that it had taken the two of them four years to confess their feelings for one another. "Not funny, Davey."

**It was so weird to find myself in a strange bunkroom, surrounded by a bunch of people who I've never even seen before. But they all were so nice to me, especially that David.**

Ever since the huge newsies strike had ended in the middle of July, David had become a little more outspoken and aggressive. That afternoon, he had proven himself to be even more so, for David had taken it upon himself to find out all he could about the new mystery girl. Stress had explained the situation to Mrs. Cook, who was occupying Martini, Cutie Pie, Hades, Magic, and Mondie, fellow lodgers of the Bottle Alley Lodging House, downstairs as Stress, Jack and David tried to talk to the girl.

For the fortieth time that hour, David tried again. "Please, won't you at least tell us your name?"

And like the forty other times before that David had asked, Layna stared straight ahead, too frightened to speak. The last thing she had remembered was being harassed by some kid named Morris, and then passing out.

Jack took his cowboy hat off of his head and tossed it in the air. "Dat's it. I jist can't take it no moah. If she won't give us a name for herself, we'll give her one. Stressie, got any ideas?"

Stress sat up on the bunk she was sharing with Jack and stared straight into Layna's blue eyes. After a few moments of silence, Stress nodded. "Jack, I got da poifect name fer her. How 'bout Secrets?"

Jack leaned over and kissed Stress on the cheek. "I knew I was datin' a genius. Dat name is jist poifect, right Dave?"

David ignored Jack's question, instead looking right at Layna. "Is the name Secrets good for you?"

"Layna." she whispered hoarsely.

"Alas, she speaks. What didja say?" Jack leaned in towards the bunk where Layna was huddled up in order to hear Layna'a whisper.

"I said me name is Layna." she whispered again, a little louder this time so that the others could hear her.

"Dat shoah is a perdy name, but it ain't a good newsie name. If you'se gonna be a newsie like da rest o' us, ya need a newsie name."

Layna nodded. "I do like da name Secrets, but does dat mean dat I kin stay heah an' be a newsie?"

Stress nodded vigorously. "Shoah. You'se heah in da Bottle Alley Lodgin' House right now. It's a nickel fer a week. Me guy heah, Jack, has decided ta be a sweetie an' pay fer yer foist week while you'se loin da ropes. In case ya don't know, me name is Stress an' dis guy is David." Stress rested her hand on David's shoulder. "He's a great guy once ya git ta know him. An' I suggest ya git ta know him if ya catch me drift." Stress and Jack laughed heartily when they noticed the matching embarrassed expressions on both David and the newly named Secrets' face.

**I think it might just be alright to be a newsie. I mean, can it be any worse than the orphanage?**

"Secrets?" Stress approached Secrets' bunk, where she was laying on her stomach and writing in her journal.

Secrets quickly shut her journal and looked up. "Hiya--Stress, right?"

Stress nodded. "Yea, dat's me name. I jist wanted ta introduce you'se ta some o' da goils." Stress waved her hand to indicate the 9 girls that stood in the bunkroom. "Dese are 'bout half o' our goils. We got Tunes, Stripes, Taffee, Spin, Moneybags, Aki, Dragonfly, Holiday an' Canada. Goils, dis is Secrets, da goil dat we rescued from Morris taday. Y'know, da one dat Davey's in love wit'." Stress added with a wink in Secrets' direction.

Secrets looked up and waved at all the girls. "Hi ev'ryone." she whispered, a little overwhelmed at meeting so many new people in one day.

"Watcha doin'?" inquired Tunes as she tried to see what Secrets had hidden behind her back.

"Nuttin'. I'se doin' nuttin'." she answered hastily, taking the other girls aback. "I'se sorry, I'se jist a li'l tired an' wanna go ta bed." she apologized when she saw all of their mouths drop open.

Spin recovered first. "O' coise, Secrets, we undahstand. You'se had an awful hard day taday. We'll jist leave ya alone now." Spin motioned to the other girls to follow and all ten of them left the bunkroom.

When she was once again alone, Secrets sighed in relief. "Lissen, Layna," she scolded herself, "you'se was able ta live in da orphanage wit' no one evah findin' out 'bout yer past 'cept fer what happened wit' Ryan an' Kayla yestahday. If ya could do dat fer ten yeahs, you'se kin last in dis lodgin' house, right? Right." Secrets placed her journal on her lap and began to just think. She thought about her life at the orphanage and she wondered if anyone had even noticed that she had never returned the night before. She thought about all the people she had met since leaving the orphanage, especially David. She thought about David for awhile, long after all the other girls had returned to the bunkroom and gone to bed.

It wasn't until long after "lights out" that Secrets had taken her journal out from under her pillow and opened it to re-read her passages.

And just like clockwork, there was her message from Kisses.

**Dear Layna,**

**I'm not going to call you Secrets because you will always be Layna to me. Why are you using that name, anyway? And why are you letting these people affect you? It's just me and you, Layna, me and you. Nowhere is there a Stress or a Jack or a David in the picture. Nowhere. Especially a David. We made it ten years without needing anyone else, why start now? Why?**

**Kisses**

Secrets placed her journal back under her pillow and stared at the bottom of Holiday's bunk right above her. Though it was hours after the normal time she would fall asleep, she was wide awake. There was something wrong with Kisses' passage. It wasn't friendly and supportive like they usually were. It was possessive.

And a bit scary.


	3. Nicolas

**Author's Note: Yes, I have more story for you!  I'm warning you now that this is gonna be a little weird.  I want this to be a fic like nothing I've ever done so far.  How am I doing in that department?  Let me know by pressing that little purple button at the end of the page…Thanks!******

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**August 14, 1899**

**Dear Journal,**

**Can you believe it, I really do think I have friends!  It was so nice today, I got to sell newspapers like a real newsie for the first time.  It was great, Stress, Gip, Canada, Moneybags, Iris and Tunes, were just so nice to me.  **

"So, Secrets, how are ya likin' bein' a newsie so far?" asked Stress as she held open the door to the lodging house for the rest of the girls to enter.

"'Twas great Stress.  I had so much fun sellin' da papes taday.  But, are ya shoah dat Jack didn't mind you'se sellin' wit' us?" 

Stress blushed when she heard all the other girls laughing at her.  All day long Gip, Canada, Moneybags, Iris and Tunes had poked fun at Jack's parting words to her that morning at the distribution center.  "Have fun sellin' wit'out me Stressie, cause y'know I won't." he had said, with a twinkle in his eye as Stress headed off with six other girls for a "girls only" day of selling.  "I t'ink dat I should ask you'se wheddah or not ya t'ink David minded you'se sellin' wit' us."

"Yeah," added Iris with a smirk, identical to the one her boyfriend, the great Spot Conlon, usually wore, "didja see Dave's face when we stole ya ta sell wit' us?"

It was then Secrets turn to blush.  "You're jist sayin' dat." she murmured, walking ahead of the girls and plopping herself down on her new bunk.

"No, really.  I don't know how ya didn't notice, but David's got it fer ya, an' bad." Gip teased as she made kissy faces at Secrets.

Moneybags smiled as she walked in and sat with Secrets on her bunk.  "Don't lissen ta dem.  Whenevah one o' da guys falls in love wit' a goil, dey make it deah point ta tease da goil fer awhile.  Dat's how dey get deah kicks." she joked as she rested her hand on Secrets' shoulder.

As soon as she felt Moneybags' touch, Secrets ducked her head into her hand.  "Damn!" she swore as she felt the all-too-familiar pain start up again.****

****

_"No..." she yelled as she ran from her hiding spot, hoping that she would save the police officer  from Eddie's knife, even if she couldn't save her parents._

_Eddie missed his target when he turned his head to see the young girl emerging from the alley.  "Deah ya are, goily."_

_In the precious few seconds that Eddie was ogling her instead of his new adversary, the police officer drew his billy club and knocked Eddie over the head with it._

_Eddie slumped to the dirt, out cold.  Layna continued to run, directly into the arms of the police officer.  If there was one piece of advice that Layna remembered from her late parents, it was that a policeman could always help you when you're in trouble._

_Once the police officer had scooped her up, Layna began to sob.  "I'm sorry!" she wailed._

_The police officer carried her to a nearby street lamp and set her down.  "Hi there, child.  Would you like to tell me what's wrong?"_

_Layna sniffled and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her faded blue dress.  "Oh, mistah police officah, dat mean ol' man back deah," she pointed to where Eddie lay on the floor, still unconscious, "he killed me ma an' me pa."  Once she said the words aloud, Layna dissolved into hysterical sobs._

_The police officer drew a sharp breath.  "What's your name, child?"_

_"La--La--Layna..." she managed to choke out._

_"Well, Layna.  Do you know where your parents are, now?"_

_"Dey'se in Heaven now, mistah police officah."_

_The police officer flagged down an approaching colleague as he strode by with a paddy wagon.  "Officer Johnson", he called, waving his arms in a signal to stop, "that man over there just tried to stab me and I hear that he may have killed this little girl's parents.  I'd appreciate it if you would pick him up and than meet me at-- Where do you live, Layna?" he asked Layna._

_"Me an' me ma an' me pa live ovah in da big buildin' on da cornah o' 56th street." she whispered._

_"Meet me at the apartment building on the corner of 56th street.  I'd recommend bringing help in case we **do find something there."**_

_Officer Johnson nodded and led his horse over to where Eddie lay._

_The police officer turned back to face Layna.  "Layna, my name is Officer Murphy.  Right now, we're going to go to your house and see what happened to your parents.  Is that O.K.?"_

_Layna trembled slightly, but still nodded.  "Yessir, Officah Moiphy." _

"Secrets?  Are you O.K.?" Canada cried as she shook her gently.

Secrets opened her eyes and saw the worried expressions on the faces of Stress, Gip, Tunes, Iris, Moneybags and Canada.**_  "What happened?" she whispered as her headache began to fade._**

"You fa--" mumbled Tunes as Iris ran up behind her and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Ya must have jist fallen asleep, Secrets.  Ya looked tiahed." Iris improvised.  For some reason, she didn't want to make a big deal out of Secrets' fainting.  At least, not now.

"Oh, well in dat case, I t'ink I'se gonna go outside an' git some fresh air." Secrets fumbled around the head of her bunk for a moment before thrusting something in her bag and shuffling out of the girls' bunkroom.

"I wondah what dat was 'bout?" asked Gip, to no one in particular.

Meanwhile, David sat with Jack, Skittery, Race and Blink in the boys' lodging house, only a few blocks away.

"Jack, how did you know that Stress was the one?" David asked, hugging his knees to his chest as Secrets' face flashed before his eyes.  She was just so beautiful with her sparkling blue eyes and long coal-colored hair.

Ignoring Blink's snickers, Jack answered David's question.  "It's jist somet'ing ya feel in heah." he replied, tapping himself on the chest.

David nodded once and faced Skittery.  "What about you, Skittery?  Was it the same for you and Tunes?"

Skittery scowled; he wasn't the kind of guy who liked to talk about his feelings with the other boys. 

Race playfully slapped Skittery on the face.  "Hey, Skitts.  Can't ya see da boy is lookin' fer some advice?  Help 'im out!"

"I don't see you'se tawkin' 'bout yer feelin's fer Moneybags, do I?" Skittery acknowledged, still evading the subject.

"True, true." Race laughed and brought his cigar to his lips.  "Davey, lissen ta Jack.  He does know what he's tawkin' 'bout when it comes ta mattahs o' da heart."

Jack continued to ignore the comments from the peanut gallery and rested his hand on David's shoulder.  "Dave, let me ask you'se a question.  Are ya fallin' fer Secrets?"

Jack smothered a smirk when David turned bright red, but didn't respond.  "Ya do know dat she's only been heah fer one day, eh, David?"

David, his blush continuing to deepen, nodded.  "I don't know what it is Jack, but there is something special about her.  I just--I just can't get her out of my mind, you know."

Jack patted David on the back.  "I know, Dave, I know."

That night, after Stress, Gip, Tunes, Canada and all the other girls of the lodging house had gone to bed, Secrets pulled out her journal to write some more of her thoughts.

But, of course, there was already a message waiting for her.

**Dear Layna,**

**So, friends are they?  How many times have I told you that we don't need any friends?  Don't you remember what happens to friends?  Friends are just enemies with an inside scoop, Layna.  Remember what happened to Nicolas?**

Layna put down the journal for a moment and stared ahead, her eyes fixated on the flickering flame of the candle she was reading by.  

_Twelve-year-old Layna ran up to the orphanage, surprised to see a policeman's horse tied to the iron gate.  "I wondah what happened heah?" she murmured before entering the orphanage and heading to the girls' bunkroom._

_"Miss Layna," called Madame Pearson, "would you come here please?"_

_Layna stopped and turned towards the headmistress' office.  "Shoah, Madame Pearson."_

_Upon stepping inside the office, Layna found herself facing Officer Murphy.  "'Ello, Officah Moiphy.  Pleashah seein' you'se on dis side o' New Yawk."  She was tickled to see her old friend; she hadn't seen him in over a year since he got promoted to seargant and was given an office._

_"How are you, dear child?  I'm here on dismal business, I'm afraid." Officer Murphy took off his hat, and bent down to look in Layna's eyes.  "I hear you were friends with a Nicolas Malloy.  Is that true?"_

_Layna smiled as she nodded.  Nicolas was her best friend, after her journal partner, Kisses, of course.  He was the only one who knew about her fainting spells and, to her glee, he didn't look down on her because of them.  "Yes, Officah Moiphy.  I kin definitely say dat I'se friends wit' Nicolas."_

_Officer Murphy took Layna's hand in his own and sighed.  "We found Nicolas today."_

_Layna looked up at the older gentleman and asked, "Was he lost?  I tawked ta him yestahday aftahnoon, but I didn't know dat he went missin' aftah dat."_

_"What I mean, Layna, is dat we found your friend in an alleyways this morning.  Someone had administered a fatal stab to his chest."_

_Layna backed away from the police officer, directly into the arms of Madame Pearson.  "Naw, dat can't be.  Nicolas can't be dead."_

_"I'm sorry, Layna, but Officah Moiphy is right.  Nicolas was killed sometime between last night and this morning.  We just thought you'd like to know, especially since the two of you were so close."_

Were._  The word echoed in Layna's mind as she turned away from Madame Pearson and ran from her office.  _

_"I can't believe me only pal is gone..." she sobbed into her pillow, much later that night.  Hastily wiping her tears before fresh ones began to form, Layna removed her journal from underneath her pillow._

****

**_Dear Layna,_**

****

**_It's O.K..  I know how much losing Nicolas must hurt you, but you'll pull through.  You have me, after all.  And I'll always be here for you.  Always!_**

****

**_Love,_**

****

**_Kisses_**

****

_Kisses was right, she always was.  Shaking her head, removing the memory of Nicolai from it, Layna replaced her journal and went to sleep._

Nicolas.  She hadn't thought about him since the day he died.  Yet, now that Kisses had written his name in the journal, the memories all came rushing back.  Nicolas.

Secrets let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding as she pictured the face of her mischievous childhood pal.  "They nevah did find out who killed Nick." she murmured, all caught up in her past.

As she sat in the moonlight, Secrets jumped when she saw that the candle by her bed had lost its flame.  She pulled out a match from the night table next to her bunk and relit the candle.  With the light glowing brightly, Secrets returned her eyes to the journal page and finished the entry.****

**Remember what happened to Nicolas?  I thought so.  What would you do if that happened to any of your new friends?**

**Kisses**


	4. David

**Author's Note: Hiya faithful readers!  While doing certain research for this fic, I decided to create an insane asylum type lodging house for characters who (in the late 19th century) would have been considered unsuitable for society.  The result is Unica State Hospital.  Please check it out – http://www.geocities.com/unicastate/index.html .  And if you go, please sign the guestbook (as well as leave a review for the story here… I know, I know, I ask so much of you all…)**

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

**August 16, 1899**

**Dear Journal, **

**Sorry about missing yesterday's entry but the most marvelous thing happened to me.  I have a boyfriend now!**

"Secrets?  Are ya ready ta go?" Dice leaned over the edge of her bunk and spied the girl slumbering on the bunk below.

"Hey, Dice.  I don't t'ink she's gettin' up anytime soon!" joked Rae as she braided her long blonde hair into a single braid.

"Don't worry Dice.  I'll wake her up!" offered Singa as she walked up to Secrets bunk and shook her gently.  "Secrets, ya gotta get up."

Secrets stirred slowly, barely opening one of her eyes.  "What da--?" she murmured as she watched Singa's attempt at waking her up.  She would have thought it comical if it wasn't for the sharp pain that shot through her head and the blackness that enveloped her.

_The seven-year-old Layna led Officer Murphy up the block where her apartment building was located._

_"What is going on here?" Officer Murphy muttered as he looked upon a crowd that was gathering in the streets,  Officer Murphy drew out his police whistle and gave it a blow, though it did nothing to disperse the crowd.  He pocketed his whistle once more and elbowed his way into the middle of the crowd.  When he saw the two bodies, two bodies that lay in a large pool of their spilt blood, he started to bark orders.  "That's is people, go back to your homes.  There is nothing to see here."_

_The crowd grudgingly broke up, each person mumbling about the police ruining all of their fun.  Officer Murphy ignored their remarks and turned to Layna.  "Now, child, I really don't want you to see this, but..." he stepped aside, revealing the bodies laying in the road, " are these two people your parents?"_

_Layna waited until Officer Murphy had stepped aside before taking a look at the two murder victims.  "Pa!" she screeched as she weaved passed Officer Murphy and threw herself on the man._

_Officer Murphy cursed under his breath and rushed forward.  "Layna, no!" He pulled the child from the dead man's hold and held tight.  "He's gone Layna, he's gone."_

_Layna kicked and struggled in his arms.  "Naw, me pa is right deah.  Lemme see me pa!" she yelled as her tiny fists pummeled the police officer's much larger arms._

_"I'm sorry, Layna.  I'm sorry...sorry...sorry..."_

"Sorry, I'se sorry..." Secrets murmured as she fought against the thin sheet that covered her in her bunk.__

The only five girls left in the lodging house that morning, the only five girls who witnessed Secrets' latest spell, stared in awe as she opened her eyes and sat up in her bunk.  "What jist happened?" Secrets asked groggily, not noticing the apprehensive looks on their faces.

"Are you'se awlright, Secrets?" Dice asked.

"Yeah, I t'ink so." Secrets pulled herself to her feet and saw that all of the other girls had already left for the distribution center.  "Gosh, how late is is?"

Singa opened her mouth to tell Secrets that she had blacked out for some time when she witnessed Iris shaking her head.  "Don't worry 'bout it, Secrets, jist put some clothes on an' we'll go ta da distribution centah."

Once Secrets was dressed appropriately enough to sell newspapers for the day, Stress, Rae, Iris, Dice and Singa headed off to the distribution center.  When they arrived there, Rae, Dice and Iris bought their papers and took off to sell together, and Singa went off to find her guy, Snoddy, leaving Stress and Secrets alone.

"So, Secrets, ya wanna sell tageddah?" Stress asked after she and Secrets bought a few papers apiece.  For the last two days, Stress, Secrets, David and Jack had strolled around Manhattan selling their papers together.  But, due to Secrets' _state that morning, Jack and David had obviously left the distribution center already._

But before Secrets could respond to Stress' invitation, though, the two girls heard someone's voice call out to them.

"Stress, Secrets, ovah heah!"

Waiting just outside the gate were Jack and David.  Jack nudged David in the ribs slyly and winked at Secrets before walking over to Stress and draping his arm over her shoulder.  "Moinin' Stressie."

Stress smiled up at Jack.  "Moinin', Jack.  We t'ought da two o' you'se left wit' out us taday."

"Naw, David wouldn't let me."  Stress slapped Jack's arm playfully as Secrets and David stood by the side, watching the amusing antics of the couple.  "I'se jist kiddin', Stressie.  Y'know I'd nevah sell wit' out you'se," Jack kissed her cheek gently before turning to face David and Secrets, "Me an' Stress are gonna have some quality sellin' time tageddah taday so I guess you'se two could jist sell tageddah taday."  With a final wink in David's direction, Jack took Stress' hand and led her in the opposite direction.  

"Sooo..." David began, using the one hand not holding a stack of papers to run his hand through his curly brown hair.

Secrets just grinned sheepishly, not knowing what to say at all.

"Why don't we just go and sell, eh?" David asked, grinning when she nodded.

And sell they did.  The two of them walked over to the boxing fight just past Tibby's and sold out of their papers in a little over an hour.   After Secrets thanked the gentleman who paid for her last paper, David crossed his fingers behind his back.  "Would you like to have lunch at Tibby's now?  My treat." he added when he noticed her slight hesitations.

_What would you if that happened to any of your new friends?  The words from Kisses' journal entry of the night before flashed through Secrets' mind.  "I'd love ta." she responded with a grin, ignoring the threat within the words.  __I'm not going to let anything happen to any __of my new friends._

Once the two of them were inside the restaurant and their orders were placed, David began to shake nervously.  Secrets noticed his agitated movements and looked at him questioningly.

David saw that Secrets' eyes were focused on his bouncing knee and tapping fingers and abruptly stopped.  "Secrets, deah's sumting dat I wanted ta ask you'se?"

"Yes, Dave?" she whispered.

"Would you like to ..." David covered his mouth for the rest of the sentence which resulted in all of the words being mumbled.

"Like ta what?" Secrets prompted, quite curious to know what David had in mind.

He sighed once and put his hand down on his lap so that any words he would manage to eventually get out wouldn't be all garbled.  "Would you like to be my girl?" 

Secrets sat in silence for a moment, not sure what to think.

David, obviously taking her silence as a "no", began to ramble his apologies.  "I'm sorry, Secrets.  I know we just met three days ago and why would you want any one like --"

"I'd love ta." Secrets reached out and put her hand on David's arm.

When he felt her touch, David looked up and directly into her blue eyes.  "Really?"

"Really." 

**After he asked me to be his girl, we spent the night over at Irving Hall where he introduced me to Jack's friend, Medda.  Then we spent all day today selling down by the Harbor.  I'm having so much fun with David!  And you know what, Journal, I--I--I--I think I love him.**

 As Secrets re-read her earlier journal entry to herself, she giggled girlishly to herself.  Even in words she was having trouble admitting to herself that she might just be in love.

"What's dis?" she murmured as she realized that the word "love" in her journal was crossed out.  With quaking fingers, Secrets turned the page of her journal, anxious to read the message that Kisses must have left her.

And there it was, Kisses' message.

**Dear Layna,**

**Love?  You don't know what love is my friend.  There is no way you can fall in love with someone so fast.  This boy, this David, just wants to use you, Layna.  Just wants to get inside your heart and then rip it wide open.  Are you sure you know what you're doing?  And why didn't you write yesterday?  How many times have I told you-- You _must write everyday.  Or else._**

**Kisses**


	5. Stress

**Author's Note:  I am really getting into this story now!  I hope you guys are too!**

And I have one quick Shout Out ~ Moneybags:  *grins* You're going to have to wait to find out!

**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**

**August 19, 1899**

**Dear Journal,**

**Dear precious journal.  At least you still care, right?  I just don't know anymore.  Everything was going great with David.  That is, up until yesterday afternoon.  It all happened right after we -- we being David, Stress, Jack, and myself -- had finished selling the morning edition of our papers and were heading down the street towards Tibby's.  Jack had been nagging Stress all morning long about something...**

"Jack, will ya jist give it a rest awlready." Stress sighed in annoyance as she walked ahead of her boyfriend.

"But Stress, ya promise dat we'd go ta Medda's tanight."

"We was jist deah a couple days ago.  An' 'sides, ya know how much I hate da colah pink."

Jack ignored the comment about Medda's favorite color and continued to pester Stress.  "C'mon, Stressie.  I wanna spend da night wit' some o' da uddah fellas an' deah goils.  An' ya said ya would go."

"An' I changed me mind, Jack.  Geez, what's wit' da naggin' taday?  I sweah, it's times like dese I wish I didn't break up wit' Dave.  He nevah nagged me." Stress tossed her long curls over her shoulder and increased her step.

"Stress, dat ain't faih!" Jack called as he broke into a jog to catch up with her.  Turning around quickly to face Secrets and David, he called, "We'se gonna head ovah ta Tibby's an' tawk fer a bit.  See ya guys deah."

"See you." answered David before he turned to talk to Secrets.  "What?" he asked when he noticed that she was staring at him oddly.

"What did she mean when she said dat she's sorry dat she broke up wit' you'se?" Secrets whispered.

David's face turned a lovely shade of red.  "Well, uh, you see--"

"Did you'se two date or sumting, Dave?"

"Umm..."

"Tell me!" she exclaimed, her voice unnaturally shrill.

David paused for a moment, taken aback by her sudden outburst.  "Yes, Secrets.  Stress and I used to date."

"What?  Are ya kiddin' me?  Ya used ta be tageddah wit' dat goil?" Secrets brain whirled as she processed the information.  For some reason she had gotten the idea that she was his first girlfriend.  After all, David was her first boyfriend.  She thought they would experience love and it's splendors together.  But now that she knew he had experienced them all with another, Secrets was crushed.  As tears filled her eyes, tears at her naivety, Secrets turned her back on David.  She couldn't bare to let him see her tears.

David began to feel a little bit remorseful at not telling Secrets about his and Stress' prior relationship.  "Secrets, I'm sorry," he began as he walked up to her and rested his hand on her shoulder.

Secrets, whose back had been turned to David, grew rigid at once.  She wasn't expecting the sudden touch on her shoulder.

_"I'm sorry, Layna, I'm sorry."  Officer Murphy gently guided Layna away from the scene.  "Officer Johnson," he called as he watched his comrade ride up to apartment building, "there are two bodies over there.  Quite a mess to clean up, son."_

_Officer Johnson looked over at Officer Murphy in surprise.  "You mean, I have to clean the mess up?"_

_Officer Murphy nodded.  "Yes.  I have a little more important matters to tend to right now." he said, gesturing to the wide-eyed little girl who stood, clung to his knees._

_Officer Johnson looked at Layna and smiled gently.  "I'm sorry, child.  But mind Officer Murphy, he's a kind man."  He tipped his policeman's hat in her direction and rode towards the end of the street where another crowd was gathering._

_"Officah Moiphy?" she whispered into his pants leg._

_"Yes, Layna?"_

_"What's gonna happen ta me?" Her tiny frame began to tremble as realization hit her seven-year-old brain.  Without a mother or father to take care of her, she was alone__._

_"Don't you worry, child.  I know the perfect orphanage for you.  And I'm sure you'll love Madame Pearson."_

"Secrets?" David froze, his hand on her shoulder, as he fought the urge to worry.  It had been over a minute and Secrets had yet to respond to his call.

And then, all at once, her body relaxed.  "Yes, David?"  She turned around, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Secrets.  I should have told you about Stress before." David pushed a patch of dirt around with his tip of his faded brown shoe, avoiding Secrets' eyes.  "I was afraid that you would react just like this, so I figured I would just 'forget' to tell you.  I mean, we were only together for a week before she dumped me for Cowboy, but--"

Secrets' frown slowly turned upwards as she pushed aside any negative thoughts she had.  _Only a week?  And she __dumped him?  Dat ain't as __bad.  "Dat's O.K., Dave.  Yer wit' me now, not her.  I know I got no reason ta be jealous."  She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying hard not to imagine Stress and David locked in the very same embrace._

"Exactly." David leaned down and kissed Secrets gently.  "We better be heading over to Tibby's right now before Stress and Jack kill each other."

Holding hands, Secrets and David headed over to the restaurant.  Once they arrived at the door, Secrets nudged David in the side.  "I don't t'ink dat dey'se missin' us too much." she giggled, as she pointed at the booth where Jack and Stress sat together.

"I think you're right." David affirmed as he watched the couple kissing each other and murmuring their apologies all the while ignoring the poor waiter who was trying to ask them for their order.

**I accepted David's reasons for excluding that little tidbit of information.  But I couldn't accept it when he spent all this morning with her instead of me...**

"Oh, Dave." laughed Stress as she clutched David's arm and led him away from an angry Jack and livid Secrets.

"I'm so glad you like my joke, Stress." David gushed as he let himself be led by her.

"Stress, do ya wanna sell wit' me now?" asked Jack, pointedly, feeling left out of the conversation.  And he was still a little sore at Stress' remark from the day before.  As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was hurt at the way Stress said she would rather date David than him.  Even if she had only said it in the heat of their fight yesterday morning.

Yet it seemed like she was still miffed at him.  "Hey, Cowboy.  Hold yer horses, I'se tawkin' ta Dave heah."  O.K., maybe a lot miffed at him.  The truth was, though, that she was only doing it to make Jack jealous.  She was mad at the way that he implied that she was too stubborn and fickle.  Even after they had made up yesterday, she stewed over it all night long and decided she would show Jack how important she was by ignoring him and spending the day with David.

Unfortunately it was working on Secrets too, except she didn't have the nerve to say anything to them.  But it didn't stop her from thinking.  "I can't believe she's holdin' on ta me guy like dat when she's got her own right behind her.  I bet she's tryin' ta take him away from me."  Secrets' blue eyes darted over to the happy expression on David's face.  "An' he's lettin' her!  I t'ought we had dat awl figahed out yestahday.  Guess not..." she noted when she witnessed Stress lean over and give David a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Dat's it, we'se gonna sell by ourselves taday." Jack announced as he walked forward and, grabbing Stress by the arm, began to head in the opposite direction.

Secrets cheered inwardly at Cowboy's possessiveness.  Maybe now she could spend some time alone with her boyfriend.

Nope.  "Francis Sullivan, what da heck do ya t'ink yer doin'?" Stress yelled as she yanked her arm from his grip.

"I'se stoppin' me goil from floitin' wit' me best friend, Jess Lynch." he countered.

"I was doin' no such t'ing." she defended herself.

"Yeah, ya wheah.  Right, Secrets?" Jack turned to Secrets for help.

Secrets just shrugged her shoulders, not trusting herself to say anything at the moment.  She was going to wait until Jack and Stress were out of ear-shot before she said anything to David.

Jack rolled his eyes.  "Stress, I t'ink ya bettah come wit' me.  We need ta tawk."

Stress took her stack of papers and threw them at Jack's feet.  "I don't t'ink so, Cowboy." she yelled before turning and stalking off.  No one couldn't say she didn't have a flair for drama when she was upset.

Jack stared as she walked away, silent for a moment.  Then, all of a sudden, he muttered one word, "Goils!", before walking away in the opposite direction, Stress' papers laying forgotten in the middle of the street.****

"David?"

"Secrets, no.  Just no." David said simply before shaking his head and turning to sell his papers.  Just because Stress and Jack let their squabble ruin their selling, didn't mean that the Jacobs' were going to go hungry.

Secrets begrudgingly nodded her head and followed after David.  _No? she asked herself, __I wonder what he's saying no to...  ****_

**I knew it was to good to be true.**

Secrets carefully drew the period after the "e" and laid down her pen, feeling much better now that she had her anxieties written out on paper. 

"Secrets?" called a voice from the other end of the bunkroom.  Secrets hastily shoved her journal under her pillow and stuck her head outside of the bunk.  "Yeah?"

It was Stress.  "Secrets, are you'se O.K.?  Ya seemed a li'l angry dis moinin' when we was sellin' our papes."

_Duh.  "I'se fine, Stress.  An' I believe dat you'se weah da one dat seemed moah angry." she added, a bit more testily than she meant to._

"Are ya shoah?" Stress' golden eyes showed her sincerity, but Secrets wasn't having any of that.

"I said I was fine, didn't I?  Gawd, jist leave me alone!" Secrets reached under her pillow, grabbed her journal, rose from her bunk and stormed from the bunkroom.

Stress stood at the foot of Secrets' bunk, her cheeks flaming at Secrets' sudden outburst.  "What did I do?"  She shrugged her shoulders and headed towards the door.  "I guess I bettah find Secrets an' find out what dat was 'bout."

Later that night, Secrets ignored all the questioning looks from the other lodgers as she slugged towards her bunk, cradling her head with one hand and clutching her journal with the other.  "What a night." she murmured as she threw herself down on her bed.  She sat for a moment, holding her head.  For some strange reason she had one hell of a headache, yet no memory of anything other than storming from the bunkroom earlier that evening and just now returning back.  "Maybe I wrote down what I was doin'."

She used her other hand to open her journal and raise the page to her eyes.  There was a message, though not from herself.  It was from Kisses.

**Layna,**

**I know I should be mad at you.  I mean, look, it's been _3 days since your last entry.  But I forgive you.  I always do.  And just to show you how much I care about you, I'm going to take care of your problems.  Trust me.  You won't have to worry about Stress stealing all of David's attention from you anymore._**

**Kisses**


	6. Dragonfly

**Author's Note: Let me know if you were expecting this twist, K?**

And thanks to:

**Holiday**

**Dragonfly**

**Lucky**

**Lange**

for reviewing the last chapter.  *MWAH*

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

**August 20, 1899**

**Dear Journal,**

**Oh my goodness, you will never believe what happened today.  I just got word about what happened and I'm sitting here in the lodging house, numb and in shock.  **

"Wake up, wake up!" 

Secrets rolled over in her bunk and ignored the frantic voice.

But Iris didn't.  "What's da mattah, Dragonfly?"

Dragonfly panted heavily as she leaned against the frame of the door, using it for support.

"Dragonfly?" Rae questioned as she, too, crawled out of her cozy bunk and addressed the excited newsie.

"Guess what?" Dragonfly began before sinking to the floor in exhaustion.  She had woken early and headed to the distribution center so that she was first in line.  While she was waiting there, anxious to rub in Race's face that she had won their bet, she overheard some of the workers discussing a certain article.  "New York Orphan Slain in Back Alley" was the headline they were discussing.

Upon hearing that it was an orphan that was murdered, Dragonfly's curiousity was peaked.  She waited until she heard their voices no longer and snuck inside, eager to snatch a paper to read while she stood outside the order window.

Once she had the paper in her hand, Dragonfly searched through the pages for the article.  And there it was, page three.  "New York Orphan Slain in Back Alley."  She skimmed the article and a few choice words leapt out.  **_Female...Around seventeen or eighteen... Long light brown curls... wide golden eyes... Dressed as a common newsgirl except for a simple silver chain on her neck... Stabbed seven times in the back...On the forehead of the victim was a blood red kiss mark..._**

Dragonfly almost dropped the paper onto the ground.  "Stress?  Naw, it couldn't be..."  Dragonfly reread the article three more times before shaking her head.  Stress was known for the silver chain she wore around her neck, a present from her mother right before she had died.  And the similarities in appearance were quite uncanny.  Dragonfly looked over to where the sun was beginning to rise.  "Maybe I should go ovah ta da lodgin' house an' let da uddahs know.  Even if it ain't Stress, it might jist be a goil we know."

And, still clutching the paper in her hand, Dragonfly left her post at the Distribution Center's doors, heading back to the Bottle Alley Lodging House.

As she stood, leaning against the doorway, she tried to catch her breath as quickly as possible as to spread the news.  "Guess what?"

Holiday yawned and stretched out on her bunk.  "Can't it wait 'til we'se at da distribution centah, Dragonfly?"

Dragonfly shook her head and quickly searched the bunkroom for Stress' familiar face.  "Hey, Hol, wheah's Stress?"

Holiday followed Dragonfly's gaze and shrugged her shoulders.  "I dunno, prolly wit' Jack.  Ain't dat wheah she awlways is?"

Iris exchanged a look with Rae before interrupting Holiday and Dragonfly's conversation.  "Naw, dey got in a huge stink yestahday.  What's da mattah, Dragonfly?  Ya came runnin' in heah like a wild woman a moment ago.  is sumting wrong."

"Yeah, lissen.  'A young orphan girl was found slain in a back alley early this morning.  The girl, a young girl, around seventeen or eighteen years of age, had long light brown curls and wide golden eyes and was dressed as a common newsgirl except for a simple silver chain on her neck.'  Yadda yadda yadda, deah's moah ta da article.  But heah dis.  'On the forehead of the victim was a blood red kiss mark.'  Now, I hate ta say dis, but don't dat goil sound like it could be Stress?"

All the girls in the lodging house, girls just waking up to start their day, paused as they listened to Dragonfly read aloud from the paper.  The first one to comprehend what she was saying, Gip, scoffed at the idea.  "Naw, deah must be some uddah goil like dat in Manhattan.  I mean, Stress can't be _dead."_

"I dunno, Gip.  Dey did mention a goil wit' a silver chain." Moneybags said thoughtfully as she sat indian-style on the bunk and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"True." added Dice.

Hades looked around at all the girls in surprise.  "Lissen ta you'se.  When we finish decidin' wheddah or not Stress was killed...  I mean, why don't we go lookin' fer her.  I'se shoah she's fine."

Chorusses of "Yeah"'s and "Good idea, Hades"'s rang through the lodging house as the girls reached for their selling clothes and began to prepare themselves for the day.

Only two girls, Dragonfly and Secrets, stood where they were.  Dragonfly was still a little worried.  Truth be told, she was convinced that the article made it out that it was Stress that was killed.  Secrets, on the other hand, was preoccupied about something else entirely.

"Whaddya mean, deah was a kiss mark on her forehead?" Secrets asked.

Dragonfly looked at Secrets as if she were insane.  Here she was, telling all of the girls that one of their own, Stress, might have been killed and all Secrets was interested in was the fact that the murderer had kissed the victim goodbye.  "Dat's what da pape said.  Heah, look fer yourself."  Dragonfly tossed Secrets the crumpled newspaper before turning to speak to Moody.

Secrets caught the paper easily and began to read the article.  

            **_And what makes this murder more curious than the others in the past few weeks was the murderer's signature.  On the forehead of the victim was a blood red kiss mark.  Upon _**

**_closer inspection, the police were able to discern that it was, in fact, the victim's own blood.  _**

**_The..._**

****

That was as far as Secrets got.  As a searing pain shot through her head, she fell down onto the floor, the paper floating carelessly from her fingertips.

_It was the day after she had received word of Nicolas' death.  Layna was dwelling outside of Madame Pearson's office, her head down on her lap. To the average bystander she looked to be grieving the loss of her only friend.  But she wasn't._

_Instead she was eavesdropping on a conversation being held by Madame Pearson and Officer Murphy.  "But Officer, why do they think it was a young girl who killed poor Nicolas?"_

_Layna began to tremble as she heard Officer Murphy sigh and then speak.  "Well, you see ma'am, it's true that the boy was stabbed.  Stabbed, seven times right in his back.  But that wasn't what was strange about the murder.  What was strange was the fact that he had a kiss mark, a child-sized kiss mark, directly in the middle of his forehead."_

_"Yes, that is quite strange."_

_"But that's not the worst of it, ma'am.  The kiss mark wasn't done in lipstick as we initially thought.  The kiss mark was made from spilt blood."_

_Layna grimaced at the thought.  "Dat shoah is seven kinds o' creepy." she murmured to herself._

_"Do you have any suspects, Officer Murphy?"  Madame Pearson's curious nature was beginning to stir._

_Though she couldn't actually see him, Layna knew that Officer Murphy was shaking his head.  "Sorry, ma'am.  The only idea we might have is if he had any enemies here at the orphanage.  There was no sign of a struggle, so we can only assume that the murderer somehow knew__ the victim."_

_"Oh, I see."_

_"Well, I'll let you know if we find anything out, as I'm sure you will do the same for the police."_

_"Oh, definitely.  If I hear any word of a connection to Nicolas' death, I'll be sure to let you know."_

_Layna heard them rustling and quickly jumped up and ran to her room.  You got two weeks indoor punishment if you were caught snooping around the headmistress' office._

"Secrets?"

Secrets slowly opened her eyes as the remnants of her unconsiousness faded with every second that passed.  "David?"

"Secrets, are you alright?" David's look of concern scared here.

Secrets nodded slowly, looking around the bunkroom and finding it empty.  "Wheah is ev'ryone?"

David shrugged.  "I think they all went to comfort Jack.  He just came back from the coroner with Kloppman."

Secrets looked at him, confused.  "What was Jack and Kloppman doin' at da coronah's?"  With her most recent fainting spell, Secrets had plum forgot that one of their own was killed.

David sighed and stayed where he was.  "Didn't you hear?  I thought that was why you passed out?"

"Oh my Gawd, I almost fergot.  Did dey find out who was killed?" Secrets covered her mouth with her hand.

David slowly nodded.  "The police went around and asked anyone if they knew who the mystery orphan was that was killed late last night.  Someone sent them over to the lodging house early this morning and Jack went with them.  From what he told me before I came here to get you, the police knew that the victim was a Manhattan newsie and Jack figured that, as the leader of the Manhattan newsies, he was the best man for the job of identifying the victim.  Unfortunately for Jack, he _did recognize the girl.  Secrets, it was __Stress who was murdered last night."_

**Yes, I've just received word from David that Jack went down to the coroner to see if it was Stress.  It was.**

"Oh, Dave.  I'se so sorry." Secrets got up slowly and walked over to where David stood, leaning against the edge of the bunk as if he would collapse if it weren't there.

David looked down at Secrets, tears visible in his blue eyes.  "Me too, Secrets."  He opened his arms and welcomed Secrets into his embrace.  "She was one of my best friends," he murmured into her hair.

 "Just a friend?" Secrets whispered, jealously, though she regretted the comment the moment it was uttered.

David pulled away from Secrets and stared at her in disbelief.  "Secrets, I just found out that my best friend was _murdered and all you care about is whether or not I liked her as more than a friend.  Well I'm going to be honest with you.  Yes, I loved her.  She was one of my closest friends.  Is that what you wanted to hear?"  David opened his mouth to speak again, but stopped when he noticed that she was flinching.  "I'm sorry, but it's kind of hard to find out that your friend has been killed.  I've never had to deal with that before."_

As she watched her boyfriend collapse onto the floor and dissolve into sobs, Secrets felt a twinge of guilt.  David was going through exactly what she went through when she found out Nicolas was killed.  "I'se sorry."

David nodded and began to head away.  "I know.  And, are you alright?  I was a little worried when Dice told me that you had blacked out upon hearing that one of your new friends were dead."

"Yeah, I'se fine."  She didn't want to get into the details about how it was _Nicolas' death that made her pass out._

"Well, now that I know you're O.K., I'm going to go back to the lodging house and talk to Jack.  I think he's going to need all the help he can get right now."

"I'll go too," she offered at once.

"No, I think it would be better if I talked to Jack alone.  I hate to be rude or anything but I don't think you'd be any help today.  Remember, you've only been her for a few days and you don't know how Jack gets at times."

Secrets felt an uncharacteristic flash of anger course through her body but pushed it to the side at once.  "Shoah, Dave.  Have fun."

"Thanks, Secrets." David walked over and kissed Secrets on the cheek.  "I'll talk to you later."

"Latah." 

Secrets stared at the door long after David had walked out of it.  When she finally realized that he wasn't coming back any time soon, Secrets turned over on her bunk and, laying on her belly, pulled her journal out.

**Layna,**

**No need to say thank you.  **

**Kisses**

What?!


	7. Kisses

**Author's Note**: I hope you are all enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Big Thank You's to the last chapter's reviewers:

**Aki**

**Moneybags**

**Dice**

**Rae**

**Iris**

**Dragonfly**

**Holiday**

**Emu**

**Jeanette**

**Sami**

**Moody**

Lange Lucky 

And here is more of the story.  *And a little more insight on this freaky Kisses character*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After the entry on the 20th, the entry where Secrets told all about Stress' death and received the _strange message from Kisses, she was much too afraid to write anything into the journal.  Anytime she reached for a pen and pulled her journal out from under her pillow, Kisses' words from that day flashed before her eyes and she would thrust it away.  But the lack of her entries and her unwillingness to write in her journal did nothing to stop Kisses' messages._

**August 21, 1899**

**Layna,**

**So, my friend, my sister, my _Layna.  How was your first day with out that pesky boyfriend stealer hanging all over David?  Good, I hope.  Did you have fun selling?  Well, talk to you later!_**

**Kisses**

When Secrets had read the first message that Kisses had left after the _strange one, she had stared at him for over an hour, trying to figure it out.  This was just like the messages that Kisses used to leave in her journal -- friendly and supportive, nothing like the scary ones she had been writing ever since she had run away from the orphanage._

And, of course, she then had to laugh at the questions that Kisses had asked.  _How was your first day with out that pesky boyfriend stealer hanging all over David?  Secrets wouldn't know.  David had spent the entire day with a mourning Jack inside the bunkroom over at the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House.  And, __Did you have fun selling?  Well, not necessarily.  Secrets had tagged along with Mondie, Holiday and Spin and, as a result, had spent the entire day listening to the three of them re-live memories of their dear departed friend.  Since Secrets had only known Stress for a few days she really had nothing to say.  Instead, Secrets spent the entire day wondering if there was a connection between Kisses' __strange message and Stress' murder._

But, upon returning to the lodging house that evening, Secrets did **not write in her journal.  She still wanted more time to think.  Though, normally, Secrets would use her journal to write out her thoughts until they made sense, she decided not to this time.**

Which only resulted in a change of tone in the next evening's message from Kisses.

**August 22, 1899**

**Layna,**

**Hmmm...No answer yesterday.  Are you O.K.?  I would think so.  I mean, you don't have to worry about Stress anymore.  Now you can have your David all to yourself.  Right?  Right, Layna, right?**

**Kisses**

_Right, Secrets scoffed to herself when she had read that message before going to bed.  Another day alone, another day without David.  Though Secrets missed spending her mornings selling with David and missed spending her evenings in his company, she did understand the time he spent with Jack.  But it didn't mean she had to like it._

Which meant that Kisses **did not_ like it._**

The next two days went by quite uneventful.  Secrets saw David on the second night for a few minutes as he dredged himself home from another evening of trying to convince Jack it wasn't his fault that Stress had died.  On the night that David made his way home, the first night that he stopped into the Bottle Alley Lodging House, he explained to Secrets what Jack was going through.

"I know I haven't been spending any time with you, Secrets, but you have to understand.  You see, the day before and the actual day that Stress was killed, she and Jack got into an argument.  You heard the two of them, so you know how bad it was.  Well, Jack is not too happy right now because they never got the chance to kiss and make up.  He thinks that it's all his fault."  David sighed and just hung his head.  _Only a week ago, everything was so normal..._

Secrets, just glad for his company, nodded.  "Dat's O.K., Dave.  I undahstand."  She didn't, really.  But as long as David was there with her, then, everything was just fine.

David smiled, his first smile in days, and wrapped his arms around Secrets.  "Thank you."

He stayed there with her until Mrs. Cook came upstairs and announced curfew.  After he left to head back to his home, Secrets decided it would be time to write in her trusted journal once more.  Besides, what was she afraid of anyways?

**August 25, 1899**

**Layna,**

**O.K., Layna.  I was being nice, I was being kind, I was being _your friend.  I forgave you for befriending others and even tried to __help you keep that friendship.  And what do I get in return?  I'm ignored, forgotten.  Is that how you feel as you sit by yourself in the lodging house while David spends his days with Jack?  I don't like that feeling Layna and I'm sure that you don't either.  I will take care of you.  But you must write to me.  Write to me, Layna.  How do expect me to help you and be there for you if you don't tell me.  I __need to know._**

**Kisses**

Oh yeah.  Secrets remembered _exactly what she was afraid of.  _

"Well, in dat case, maybe I bettah write." she murmured to herself, surprised at how nervous a message from someone she's never met resulted in making her feel.

**August 25, 1899**

**Dear Journal,**

**  
Well, I finally am writing once again.  It's been a strange few days and it's extremely hard to be surrounded by so many depressed people.  And it's doubly hard to be surrounded by so many depressed people when David isn't one of them.  Because I _am hurt and jealous at all the time he is now spending with Jack.  I feel selfish to admit it, but in a way relieved.  I don't know why I haven't been writing my feelings out, Journal.  You truly are the only friend I can turn to right now.  Y--_**

And, once she got the momentum going and knew exactly what she wanted to write down, Secrets had her first black out spell in the past three days.

Knock, knock._  Officer Murphy led the seven-year-old Layna to the door of the large 5th Street Orphanage and waited upon knocking on the large door._

_A stout woman with her long black hair knotted at the nape of her neck answered the door.  "May I help you, Officer Murphy?"_

_Officer Murphy removed his police hat and stepped aside to reveal Layna.  "Sorry about disturbing you so late, Madame Pearson, but this is important."_

_Madame Pearson took one look at Layna and motioned for the two of them to step inside.  "Come in, come in."  Once she was sure that the two of them were standing inside of the orphanage, she began to walk down the hallway.  "Now before we have a talk about the wee one here, let me show her to a bunk.  It seems like she might have had a rough day and a little girl like her should get some sleep."  Madame Pearson continued to talk until she reached a particular door on her left.  "Here, I think this room will do fine for now."  She opened the door and gestured for Layna to enter._

_Layna thanked Madame Pearson and waited for her to lead Officer Murphy to her office to talk before approaching the only other occupant awake at so late of an hour.  It was a young boy with sloppy dark hair and brown eyes that were hidden by glasses.  "Hi deah, me name is Nicolas, but awl me pals cawl me Nick.  What's yer name?"_

_All at once the day's events caught up with Layna and she felt a sudden rush of pain flood into her head.  It took a second to pass and when it did, she stared her dull, lifeless blue eyes straight ahead.  "My name is Kisses." _

"Oh my Gawd, what happened?"  Secrets lifted her head from her hand, waiting for the familiar pain to leave her head.  The last thing she had remembered was getting ready for bed and writing in her journal.  "Me joinal!" she shrieked, ignoring the stirring of the slumbering girls around her.  Her journal was no longer sitting on her bunk.  Secrets jumped up from the bed and searched frantically until she found where the journal had fallen - in between the bunks where she slept and where Iris slept.

Picking it up and clutching it to her chest momentarily, Secrets flipped the journal open to the page she had been writing on.  And there was her entry, only half finished.  But, already though, there was a response.

**Layna,**

**Good, you listened to me and wrote back.  Just like I thought you would.  I know you so well, Layna, I really do.  Now, don't you worry.  I must admit that I didn't like the idea of you pouring your heart and soul into someone but me when you first mentioned that you were making friends.  But I see now that if it makes you happy, you must be happy.  And I will be the one to make sure of it.  You'll see.**

**Kisses**


	8. Morris

Author's Note:  Before any of you read this, this chapter is Rated R for violence.  I'm going to keep the rating at PG-13 for the overall story since this will *most likely* be the only scene like this.  If I decide to do anything like this in a later chapter, then I will change the rating. Shout Out's: 

**Dice: **Here you go! Thanks for the review and here's some more story!

**Raider/Lucky: **You must love having so many names!!  Sounds like a character I know…

**Iris:**  I like creepy, don't you!  I'm sorry about your 3-year-old cousin, but here's more story for you to read!!  And I loved the next part of _Almost Breathless_.  Everyone should go and read it!

**Sami:**  It will all make sense eventually, though don't count on it to make sense in this part!

**Rumor**:  Were you expecting this next part?  I know I wasn't and _I_ wrote it!

**Holiday:**  Yes, Kisses is rather freaky.  That's what makes her so much fun! *another plug* Now everyone should go read Holly's story _Christmas Station_.  It's so cute!

**Jeanette: ** Woo Hoo, thanks for the **2** reviews!!  Thanks!

**Dragonfly:**  Yes, it is very creepy.  I like creepy!

**Moneybags: **Oh no!  Not the kitchen knives! Look, here's more!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ August 26, 1899 

**Dear Journal,**

**Another glorious morning in Manhattan!  I know it's quite early for a journal entry, considering it can't be past four in the morning, but I just awoke from the strangest dream.  In it I was walking around downtown and...**

_It was late, at least four hours past Sunset.  Secrets crept down the deserted, dirt-filled streets, kicking garbage out of her path as she went along.  But it wasn't Secrets.  At least, not quite.  The girl, with her long raven hair and crystal blue eyes, looked like Secrets.  But it wasn't Secrets.  _

_As she made her way, she laughed to herself.  "I'm coming to get you, Cowboy.  Then my Layna will be apart from her David no longer."  Yes, it was in the matter of which she was speaking that proved that she was, in fact, not__ Secrets.  _

_As she, the one who resembled Secrets so, slunk around the back ways and alleys to avoid coming in contact with anyone that might question her actions, she reached into a worn and faded leather pouch slung over her right shoulder.  "Yes, I'm coming, dear Jack, I'm coming," she giggled mischievously as smiled at her trusty knife, acting like she was heading off to a party instead of paying a visit to the soon-to-be ex-leader of Manhattan._

_As she continued to skip - yes, skip - to the boys' lodging house, she stopped when she sensed someone walking behind her.  She spun on her heel, positioning the knife so that her follower couldn't see it, and wouldn't expect any sort of attack.  "Who's there?"_

_The boy took a step back and through his hands up in defense, obviously not expecting the girl to whirl around and confront.  "Hold on deah, Secrets.  I jist wanted ta have a chat wit' you'se."_

_She ignored the name he called her as she gave him a once-over and tossed her raven tresses over her shoulder.  "I'm sorry, sir__, but I'm quite busy and I haven't the time to chat."_

_The boy scratched his head before replying.  "Sir?  I'se hoit dat ya don't 'membah me, Secrets.  It's me, Morris Delancey.  I'se da one dat found ya sleepin' on da ground two weeks ago.  I've been meanin' ta tawk ta you'se since den, but you'se was awlways spendin' yer time wit' Davey an' dose two loveboids.  But I don't got ta worry 'bout dat now, do I?" Morris laughed to himself, remembering about Stress' death and Cowboy's grief and relishing it.  There was nothing like seeing someone you don't particulary like drowning in their own sorrows._

_"I guess not.  Now, if you mind, I really must be on my way," she flashed an annoyed smile at Morris and started to walk forwards, passing an alleyway as she did so._

_"Oh, come on, Secrets.  Y'know dat you'd like ta git ta know me bettah."_

_"No, I'd rather not."  She continued to walk and blanched when she felt him reach out and grab her shoulder._

_"Secrets, wait.  I jist wanna tawk."_

He wants to talk to me?  Well, I'll let him speak -- his final goodbyes,_ she thought to herself, grinning evilly.  "Morris?"_

_Morris dropped his hand and watched as she turned around to face him and began to walk backwards.  "Yes?"****_

_She smiled seductively at Morris as she walked slowly into the nearby back alley, coaxing him along with an extra swing of her hips.  "You want to talk?  I'd love to talk."_

_Morris, obviously thinking that he was going to see some action now that she had changed her mind, rubbed his hands together and licked his lips, following the mistress into the darkness._

_"Come here," she commanded, pointing him towards the corner and gesturing to him to sit.  Morris did what he was told, a doubtful look on his face.  No matter who she was or what she was offering, nobody told a Delancey what to do.  _

_She caught the look on his face and laughed cruelly.  "What's the matter, Morris?"  He looked at her strangely and opened his mouth to speak.  And promptly shut it when he saw, through the glint of the moonlight, that she had withdrawn an old, rusty knife and was fingering the blade as she smiled down on him._

_Morris gulped and, after a few moments of dead silence, gathered enough courage to question her intent.  "Hey, Secrets?  What are ya doin' wit' dat knife, eh?"_

_"Silence, Morris," she spat out and straddled his lap.  "My name is not Secrets."_

_Morris smiled once he felt her weight on his lap, thinking that she was, once again, coming on to him.  "In dat case, what's yer name?  Ya look like ya need a man, goil dat ain't Secrets, an' I'se shoah man enough ta give ya everyt'ing ya need.  Especially such a lookah like yerself," he smiled as he leered at her._

_She smiled, lifting the knife high over her head, slowly and discreetly as to not draw his attention from her chest to her hand.  "My name is Kisses, you fool.  And I don't need no one!"  Then, before Morris had a chance to move, scream, dodge or do anything, she sank the knife straight into his heart, quickly redrawing the knife and re-aiming it as to stab him numerous times._

_After the seventh stab to Morris' abdomen, a stab no more necessary than the second due to the fatal positioning of her first blow, she climbed off of his lap and placed the knife - the warm, bloody knife - to her lips.  With a swift motion, she covered her own lips in his spilt blood._

_She knelt down by Morris' body, his body eerily still, and wiped the remainder of the blood on his shirt, smirking at the surprised expression on his face.  Then, her blue eyes twinkling madly, she kissed his forehead gently, leaving her mark.  "And that, you poor pitiful fool, is why **I am called Kisses," she hissed as she walked away from the alley in which she had lured Morris, and began to head back to the Bottle Alley Lodging House.  "You got a reprieve, Cowboy.  But tomorrow, we shall meet." She took her knife, no longer warm nor bloody, and kissed it once more before replacing it back into her leather pouch and bringing her hand to her head.  One of her excruciating headaches was quickly approaching and she would never finish her night's business before it enveloped her.  She would wait.  Then tomorrow, ****tomorrow, she would make her Layna happy.******_

**And then I woke up.  Thank goodness that was a dream though.  It just seemed so life like, especially when the shadowy girl called herself "Kisses".  I think I still have Stress' murder on the brain.  What do you think?  Well, I just wanted to write that down.  Strange, really.  I haven't had any knife nightmares since I was 12.  Considering it's still too early to get up and ready for the distribution center, I think I'm going back to sleep for another hour or two.  Who knows?  Maybe when I head down to the gates with some of the girls, I'll find David down there.  Unless, of course, he's still baby-sitting Cowboy.  I hope not.**

**--Secrets.**

Secrets signed her name with a flourish and stuck her pen and journal back under her pillow, knocking to the side the faded and worn leather pouch hanging over the edge of her bed, before resting her tired and weary head upon said pillow.  "It was only jist a dream," she murmured as she slowly closed her crystal blue eyes.  "A dream..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

**Author's End Note: ** Yeah, that was really creepy to write.  I hope she doesn't get anymore psychopathic killing urges next chappy!


	9. Holiday

**Author's Note:  Woo Hoo, it's time to plug my newest website – _Infatuation_, a Newsies Fanlisting.  Are you a fan of Newsies, and would like to join?  Go here – http://newsiesinfatuation.cjb.net**

**Shout Outs:**

**Aki - *looks a little shifty* No, Aki, you don't have to worry about me. *hides long butcher knife behind her back* Not at all… : )**

**Iris – Oh thank you, Mother Inspiration!  I am healed!! LOL!!**

**Singa - Thanks!**

**Emu - I honestly have no clue.  My brain amazes even me sometimes!**

**Raider – Here you go!**

**Vix – *blushes* Thanks!  But you don't want to go too crazy, right?**

**Dragonfly - ***starts a chant* Creepy is fun!  Creepy is fun!

**Jeanette – **I'm so glad that you are enjoying this.  Your compliments are awesome!

**Holiday – **My mommy thinks that I'm on crack.  *nods* I made her read this story and now she's a little worried about me.  But that's O.k.!

**Moneybags – **Yes, keep those kitchen knives right where they are!

**Drama-Queen – **I'm so happy that somebody understands where her *issues* are coming from!

**Two-Tone - ***smiles widely* I'm also really happy that someone didn't expect Morris to be the next victim.  I'm trying not to be predictable, and I hope it works.

**Anna Belle - ***looks sideways before whispering* If you promise not to tell anyone, I'm not going to kill Dave.  Somebody else, maybe, but not Dave!  That would be too creepy.

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

**August 26, 1899**

**Dear Journal,**

**You know what, something really strange is going on here.  Remember that dream I told you about during the wee hours this morning?  Well, I don't think it was a dream...**

Secrets yawned as her long raven tresses fell in her eyes.  "What's goin' on heah?" she mumbled, barely awake.  Once again, due to her nightmare from the previous night, Secrets was one of the last newsies to make it to the distribution center that morning.  Not that it mattered or anything; when she arrived, the gate was still locked.

Holiday and Bumlets, the two of them leaning against the gate talking quietly, looked up when Secrets approached.  "Ya'll nevah believe what Tunes jist tol' us," Holiday said, gravely.

Secrets rubbed one of her eyes warily before actually looking around.  "Wait, wheah is ev'ryone?"  Now that she was semi-awake, Secrets could see that not only was the gate locked, nobody -- sans Holiday and Bumlets -- were waiting to get their papers.

"Lissen up, Secrets.  It toins out dat deah was anuddah moidah last night," Bumlets said slowly.

Secrets paled at once.  _Another murder? Who could it be this time?_

Before she could ask, Holiday began to tell her what had happened.  "It seems dat last night Morris-- y'know da Delancey's right?"

Secrets nodded, somewhat reluctantly though. She knew where this was heading and she didn't want to hear it.

"Well, last night Morris didn't retoin ta da apartment dat he shares wit dat bruddah o' his, Oscah, an' deah Uncle Weas.  Y'know, Weasel.  Anyways, when Morris didn't go home last night, Oscah went lookin' fer him a--"  

"Found him too," interrupted Bumlets with a grim smile.

"Shh, Bum.  I'se tellin' her what's happenin'," Holiday whined before turning back to face Secrets, "Like I was sayin', he found Morris lyin' in an alley right next ta da boys' lodgin' house.  It looks like da same crook dat knifed Stress, got Morris too.  An' da freaky t'ing is dat he got dat bloody kiss mark on his forehead jist like Stress did."

Secrets listened to Holiday's tale and doubled over.  For some reason she felt like vomitting.  It was a good thing she hadn't had any time that morning to bum a piece of bread off of the nuns.

Bumlets and Holiday looked at Secrets in surprise and took a step back when she doubled over and sat down on the ground, clutching the iron gate with her right hand for some support.  "Secrets?" Holiday asked tentatively.  Secrets was the eighth person she had told about Morris' untimely demise since she had been sitting at the distribution center, and it was Secrets who had taken the news the hardest (except for Oscar and Weasel, of course, hence the reason the distribution center was closed.  With Weasel, Oscar and Morris being the only three who ran the office for the morning edition, it was no surprise that Oscar and Weasel decided to take the day off.  Just don't tell Pulitzer.)

When Secrets ignored her, Holiday tried again.  "Secrets, honey, are ya feelin' awl right?"

Secrets looked up and shook her head.  "Uh-- what?  Didja say sumting, Hol?  I'se so tired, I musta dozed off."

"Secrets?"

Holiday, Bumlets, and Secrets did an about face when they heard David walking up behind them.  And he wasn't alone.

"Dave, Jack?  What are you'se two doin' out heah?  I t'ought you'd be stayin' ovah at da lodgin' house taday 'gain," asked Bumlets, surprised and pleased to see Jack out in the sunshine again.

Jack nodded tersely.  "I hoid dat sumting happened ta Morris but I jist figahed dat Snipes had da story wrong.  What happened?"

Holiday shot a look at Bumlets and looked down at her feet.  "Naw, Cowboy.  I don't t'ink dat he got da story wrong.  From what I've been hearin' awl moinin' long, Morris was killed last night.  Jist like Str--"

Bumlets reached around Holiday and covered her mouth with his hand.  He didn't think it was too good of an idea for her to mention Stress' name at the moment.

But Jack didn't even notice, instead running his hands through his hair.  "So, it's true den.  Anuddah kid in Manhattan has been moidahed.  Damn.  Dave?" he called out to his friend.

David looked up from where he was holding Secrets in his arms, listening to her murmur how tired she was, as if she hadn't gotten any sleep at all.  "Yes, Jack?"

"'Membah what we was tawkin' 'bout da day aftah... da day aftah..." Jack stumbled but couldn't get the words out.  For him, the grief of losing his girlfriend was still too new.

"I remeber Jack and I think it's a good idea, especially since it does seem that this _person's targets are all kids in out part of the city," David answered._

Secrets, her head laying on David's shoulder, whispered her question to Dave.  "What's a good idea?"

David sighed and looked to Jack to explain.  But Jack was staring up at the sky once more, tears in his eyes.  From his experience with Jack from the past week, David knew he was begging forgiveness from Stress, wherever she was at the moment; David liked to think it was Heaven.  "We think it might be smart if we all stopped selling papes until this nutcase is caught.  I've talked to Mrs. Cook, and Jack has talked to Kloppman, and they agree.  They also said they would waive lodging fees for anyone who didn't have enough money while we went on a reprieve.   We figure that with the newsies refusing to sell papers, all the newspaper moguls will pressure the bulls to catch this killer."

"I t'ink dat's a great idea, guys," Bumlets announced, eyeing Holiday, who looked relieved at the idea.  "I agree.  C'mon, Bum.  Let's go tell some o' da uddahs."

Bumlets nodded and the two of them took off, in search of as many of their friends that they could find.

Secrets lifted her head.  "If we ain't gonna be sellin' papes no moah, I'se gonna go back ta da lodgin' house an' catch up on me sleep."

David looked down and kissed her gently on the forehead.  "Sure thing, Secrets.  I'll talk to you later on.  I'm just going to make sure that Jack makes it back safely to the lodging house," he stopped for a second and lowered his voice considerably, "He's not doing so good, you know."

Secrets nodded and nuzzled her cheek against his chest.  "I love ya, Davey."

"I love you, too, Secrets."  David slowly stood, helping Secrets to her feet, before grabbing Jack by his arm, and guiding him away.

Secrets watched Jack stare at the sky as David carefully helped him away.  "Poor Jack.  Poor Morris.  I really hope dat dey catch dis killah soon."  For once, Secrets wasn't jealous at the time David was spending with Jack.  She just hoped that that would be the end of the sorrow in Manhattan.  But she didn't think that was going to happen.

Not, at least, until Secrets figured out _if there was any connection to her "Kisses" and the "Kisses" in her dream.  And is it that "Kisses" -- the "Kisses" in her dream, I mean -- that is murdering all the people she knew?  Secrets didn't know..._

But she wanted to find out.****

**Journal, I think something is wrong.  I saw Morris being killed in my dream last night by someone who called them self  "Kisses" and now he's dead.  What does this mean?  I need to know, what does this mean?  Tell me, Journal.  Please...**

Secrets finished her journal entry in time to see Aki & Moneybags enter the bunkroom.  She smiled once, trying to hide the fear she knew was evident on her face, as she slipped the journal under her pillow.  "Hi goils."

  
"Hey, Secrets.  Whatcha doin' in heah by yerself?" asked Moneybags, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"Ya hoid Cowboy, we ain't ta be sellin' papes awl 'round da city," Secrets reminded her.

"We know, but he didn't say we had ta lock ourselves in da bunkroom.  Right?" tried Aki.

"True..."

"An' 'sides, I t'ought you'd be spendin' moah time gettin' ta know yer new guy bettah.  It's been ovah a week now since he asked ya ta be his goil, eh?" questioned Moneybags.

Secrets nodded slowly.  "Yeah, but in awl dat time, I've only seen him a few times.  He's been spendin' awl his days wit' Cowboy," she replied, oblivious to the degree of bitterness in her voice.  After returning to the bunkroom and resting for a bit, Secrets waited for David to stop by.  It had been hours since she had left Jack and Dave at the distribution center, and Dave had yet to stop by Bottle Alley to visit her.

But both Aki and Moneybags heard her tone, and they exchanged a look.  "You're right, Secrets.  He has been spendin' moah time wit' Jack dan usual.  But ya got nuttin' ta worry 'bout.  Dey'se da best o' pals, but he still loves ya.  Trust me, I kin tell dese t'ings," offered Moneybags, trying to appease Secrets.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Dave dis hung up ovah a goil since da foist time he met Stress," added Aki.

Secrets blanched at the mention of Stress' name.  "T'anks Aki," she muttered as she laid back down on her bunk and stared up at the ceiling.  "I know it's early an' awl, but I t'ink I'se gonna toin in."  For some strange reason, Secrets was still very much tired, even after her mid-morning nap.

"But, Secrets, it's barely mid-aftahnoon," exclaimed Moneybags.

"I know, but wit' awl da excitement again taday, an' ev'ryt'ing, I really need some shut-eye," Secrets turned her back to the two bewildered girls and proceeded to fall asleep.

"Whatevah ya say, Secrets," said Aki, as she turned and followed Moneybags out of the bunkroom.  "Hey, dat hoit!" she cried when Moneybags slapped her, not hard though, on the cheek.

"Ya knew dat Secrets became good friends wit' Stress in da few days dat dey knew each uddah.  O' coise ya mention her when da grief is still deah.  When we visit da guys at da lodgin' house latah, are ya gonna ask Jack if he misses his goil?"

  
"I ain't dat stupid!" defended Aki, "I jist tried ta make her feel bettah cause Dave cares 'bout her so much!"

"Whatevah ya say, Aki, whatevah ya say."  Moneybags chuckled as she and Aki continued down the lodging house steps and headed off down the street.

And Secrets slept on, unaware of anything that went on around during that day.

Well, at least until later that evening.  Awoken from a dreamless sleep sometime long after the sun had set, Secrets slowly stretched and looked about the pitch-black darkness.  Since everyone was sleeping, she decided it was the perfect time to continue writing in her journal.  She wanted to write down more of her insecurities and suspicions about any connection there may be between the dream she had had the previous night and Morris Delancey's murder.  

She arose from her bunk slowly and lit a candle so that it was easier to write in her journal.  She set the white wax candle on the top of a nearby bedside table and placed her journal next to it.  Picking up her pen, she opened to her page, debating what she should write.  And, also, though she didn't admit it to herself, see if _maybe_ there was some sort of message from Kisses.

There always was.

**Layna,**

**Layna, Layna, Layna.  Don't you worry your pretty little head about any mean old men named Delancey.  The world is better off without scum like him polluting it.  Don't you agree?  And I must say, interesting dream you had last night.  But don't worry about it, my friend, it's nothing.  You can trust me, right?  I mean, after all, if you can't trust your best friend, who can you trust?  And I am your best friend.  I'm your _only friend.  I take care of you, and you take care of me.  We, in a sense, are one_****.  One, you hear me!  One...**

**Kisses**


	10. Mrs Cook

**Author's Note: I am tickled pink at the reviews I have – 98 so far!  Woo Hoo!! I *hope* that I hit 100 with this next chapter!!  And I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!  *Hugs the story*  I just love this story so much, it's my little baby!**

**Shout Outs:**

**Aki ~ I don't remember either *grins* But I'm glad you enjoyed your cameo!**

**Sami**** ~ Thank you!  It's so weird for me to take "freaky" as a compliment, but I do!! Cause this story is made to be freaky, mwahahaha!!**

**Derby**** ~ Me loves you!! You left me ****3 reviews, wahoo!!  And I'm really happy that you're enjoying it!**

**Taylor**** ~ Hmmm… What to do with Jack… what to do with Jack… *rubs hands together*  Poor Jack has been the intended victim once before and he's alive.  I wonder who's next…**

**Rae ~ You're going crazy?  Oh no, just don't pull a Kisses on us or anything!**

**Dizzy ~ Don't worry, it's not just you.  This story confuses the heck out of me too!  And muchas gracias for your ****2 reviews, *mwah***

**Holiday**** ~ Can I hide with you, too?  Oh, wait, I was already a victim, LOL!  Take care, my pretties!!**

**Iris ~ *lifts her feet up* Great job, Iris.  You sent the burnt toast after me… *grr* They bite to hard, LOL!**

**Act ~ *blushes* Thanks!  That was such a nice compliment!**

**Raider ~ From what I've read, people with multiple personality disorder usually are unaware of their other "selves."  That's why Secrets really has no idea that they ****are one.**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^ **

**August 29, 1899******

**Dear Journal,**

**Well, today was _so much fun.  Because of the new rule that Cowboy was making us follow, I got to sleep later than I have since I ran away from the Orphanage, again.  I'm so tired of being cooped up in the lodging house -- it's only been three days and I'm going mad.  Today I kept busy by watching Rae, Gip, Dragonfly and Hades play countless hands of poker, waiting for their guys to walk over.  But they never did.  It seems, even though there hasn't been any murders other than the murders of Stress and Morris, that __almighty Cowboy has decided that it wasn't safe for any of us to wander out alone.  Therefore, it's been three days since I've seen my Dave.  Heck, it's been three days since I've seen anything other than the inside of this dratted lodging house._**

Secrets re-read her passage and looked around at the crowded bunkroom, full of girls gossiping and whispering wistfully about their boyfriends on the other side of town.  With a set smirk on her face, Secrets added one more line to her entry before shoving the journal into a faded, leather pouch that was shoved under her bunk.

**That's it.  I don't care what anyone says -- David, Jack, Mrs. Cook, the other girls.  I'm going out to get some fresh air tonight and that's that.**

Secrets got up and feigned a yawn.

Iris looked up from where she was discussing her affection for Spot Conlon with her friend, Dice.  "Where are ya goin', Secrets?"

_Good question, Secrets pondered, her thoughts spinning with all sorts of reasonable lies.  "I'se jist goin' downstairs ta tawk ta Mrs. Cook.  Ya know, t'ank her for lettin' us awl stay heah fer free while we'se waitin' fer da bulls ta catch dat moiderah."_

Iris nodded, her glasses slipping down her nose.  "Dat's a good idea, Secrets.  Tell her dat I said t'anks, too."

"Yeah me too," added Dice.

Secrets waved in acknowledgement of Dice and Iris' words as she turned and left the bunkroom, clamoring down the stairs.

"Where's the fire, dear child?" asked Mrs. Cook as she sat at her mahogany desk, organizing the logbook from the past few weeks.

Secrets slowed her pace as she shuffled over to the desk.  "I jist got a li'l tired o' sittin' in da bunkroom so I t'ought I'd visit y-- Oopsie," she cried as she _accidentally knocked over the stack of papers that Mrs. Cook was rifling through.  "Lemme get dat."_

"Don't worry yourself, Secrets, dear.  I'll get it," Mrs. Cook chuckled as she ducked underneath her desk to recover the strewn papers. 

"O.K., then.  I'll see ya latah," Secrets rushed the words out as she slipped out of the lodging house door.  Once she was outside, she patted herself on the back for a job well done; Mrs. Cook was known for her eagle eyes and Secrets was able to just get past her in order to escape. "Good job, Layna," she whispered as she looked at the sun setting before her.  It was getting late so she didn't have much time to take a stroll.  She thought for a moment about just returning to the lodging house and forgetting about getting any fresh air, but dismissed that at once.  "I jist need some time ta meself."

And time she had.  Secrets strolled around downtown Manhattan for almost an hour when she found herself a few blocks back from where she had started from.  "Well, I guess dat since I'se so close ta da lodgin' house, I bettah jist go back," she murmured to herself as she began to head in that direction.  "I jist hope dat Mrs. Cook doesn't get too pissed for me skippin' out like dat."  Secrets shrugged.  It was worth it, anyways.

"Secrets?  Is that you?"

Secrets stopped mid-step, her shoulders slumped.  _David._

"Secrets?  What are you doing outside so late?" David asked as he broke into a jog and arrived at her side.

Secrets flipped her hair over her shoulder and pursed her lips.  "Hiya, Dave.  Long time, no see, hun."

"Secrets.  I thought that you understood that we don't want any of you girls walking around by yourselves.  What if you got hurt?  I can't believe how foolish you've been!  What if that murderer had gotten you?  I've seen how Jack has been this past week without Stress.  What would I do if the same thing happened to you?  Don't you have any sense, Secrets?"

Secrets got a little but angry.  _What about him?, her inner voice began to ask.  "What 'bout you'se?  Ain't you'se supposed ta be safe at yer home?"_

"I don't know why I need to tell you my business, but I was on my way home from talking to Jack—"

"Jack, Jack, Jack!!   What are you'se two, a couple or sumting?  Awl us goils are sittin' ovah at Bottle Alley waitin' fer you'se guys ta come by -- but ya nevah do.  Gawd, Dave.  Ya make me feel so loved by venturin' out ta see Cowboy but ignorin' me totally!"  Secrets was aware of the tone of her voice, but she didn't care.  It was as if something inside of her was being awoken.  Something eager to break free and show _everyone how serious was.  She was tired of being pushed around._

"Oh no, I didn't mean it that way, Secrets.  I'm sorry that I've upset you, but… I can't believe I just said that to you.  It's just that it's been so hectic and we've already lost two of our friends.  I don't know what I would do if I lost you, too.  I've just been so busy helping Jack try to figure a way to protect us all.  He thinks that this way Stress is forgiving him from heaven, you know.  Secrets?  Are you listening to me?"  David stopped in the middle of his apology, rubbing his forehead with his hand, trying to fight back the migraine that was beginning to grow.  It hadn't been the first time since he had began spending all of his time with Jack, that he had lost his temper.  And, like before, he regretted it immediately.  "Secrets?" 

But Secrets didn't even bother to listen to any of David's apology.  Instead, her blue eyes glazing over as if she didn't even recognize the young man standing in front of her, Secrets spat out, "I've had enough o' yer lip, boy.  I'se goin' home."

As she pushed past him, David reached out and grabbed her thin wrist.  "Secrets, wait--"

"Leggo--" she hissed as she jerked her hand from his reach and broke into a run.

David, startled by her harsh reaction, let go at once and watched her flee.  "But, Secrets, you're going the wrong way..." he called after her vanishing person, moments after she had run away, as he sat down and tried to fight back his headache.

And he was right.  Instead of running towards the Bottle Alley Lodging House, she was running straight towards the Manhattan Newsboys' Lodging House over on Duane Street.

David shook his head.  "Should I go after her?" he murmured to himself before setting off to the apartment building that he shared with his family.  "Naw..." he sighed, before pushing the thoughts of his girlfriend out of his mind.  If he didn't care for her so, he doubted he would ever be able to take her mood swings.

***

"Wheah da heck am I?" whispered Secrets to herself as she slowly awoke.  As she opened her eyes, she jumped to realize that she had fallen asleep outdoors, leaning up against the good, old Horace Greeley statue inside Newsies Square.  She leapt to her feet, groping around, using the moonlight to find her belongings, and began to head back to the Bottle Alley Lodging House.  "What was I t'inkin'?  Fallin' asleep outside when I know dat deah is some sort o' moiderah on da loose.  Jeez..."

She continued to berate herself all the way to the lodging house.  Once she arrived at the door, she paused briefly, hoping that Mrs. Cook had gone to bed and no one would be up to ask her where she had been for the past few hours.  Because, like a few nights before, she had no clue to where she had been.

Luckily for Secrets, the lights were all extinguished when she opened the door.  "Ya t'ink dat wit' a moiderah out deah, Mrs. Cook would at least lock da door," she giggled to herself as she crept up the stairs and slithered into the bunkroom.

"Secrets, is dat you'se?" came the groggy voice of Iris, from the bunk next to Secrets.

_Shoot, she swore inwardly before turning the covers down on her bunk.  "Yeah, Iris.  It's me?"_

"Wheah have ya been?"

"I was jist usin' da washroom.  I'se good, go ta sleep.  K?"

"Night, Secrets," Iris yawned before turning onto her other side and falling back asleep.

"Phew," Secrets stripped from her newsies clothes and shoved them into the bag she kept under her bed.  As she tip-toed over to the dresser where some of her companions kept spare clothes, Secrets borrowed a blue shirt and a pair of black pants to wear the next day and slid into bed, wearing nothing but her undergarments;  It was strange.  For some reason, of which Secrets could not understand since she found no wound on her person, Secrets had awoken covered in blood.  "Lemme see if I wrote down anyt'ing 'bout tanight."

Secrets lifted the faded leather pouch and dumped it over, revealing a journal covered in spatters of blood.  Ignoring the blood stains, though extremely curious as to their origin, Secrets rifled through the journal.  Of course, like before, the last line she had remembered writing was the last line she had, in fact, wrote.

But that doesn't mean that there wasn't something from Kisses.

**Layna****,**

**I'm sorry, so sorry.  I blundered once more.  It's just that I was so anxious after seeing David treat you -- us -- that way, that I took my anger out on the wrong one.  Damn, all I wanted to do was dispose of the one that turns your Dave against you, and I messed up again.  I'm sorry, but, after all, it was his fault.  If only he had let me get to Cowboy, I wouldn't have had to take his life.  Oh well, what's one less?  That just makes it all the more easier to me to get to my target.  Next time.  _Next time..._**

**Kisses**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^ **

**Author's End Note: So, anyone want to take a guess at what happened?  *grins*  I hope to update soon so not to drive you guys crazy – trust me, you're never going to expect this one!  Mwahahaha!!**


	11. Kloppman

**Author's Note:  Wow, I'm surprised.  Everyone thought that David was the one that died.  I guess that's a good thing since it's somebody else.  And no one expected who it was. *grins***

**Shout Outs:**

**Rae-zin ~ Don't worry, hun.  It's not Dave!  Secret's poor boyfriend is still alive, LOL!**

**Aki ~ Me, evil?  Nah… : )**

**Lange ~ Oooh, a sequel.  You just gave me a wicked cool idea… And you know what, you actually mentioned Kloppy in you review, excellent!**

**Taylor**** ~ Nope, I still saved Dave (for now… Mwahahaha!)**

**Dice ~ It could have been anyone, that's why it's so much fun to decide who's next to go!**

**Sami**** ~ I totally agree : )**

**Raider ~ *nods* I think I like being evil : )**

**Derby**** ~ Nope, twasn't Skitts neither!**

**Sugar ~ *blushes* Thanks ever so much!**

**Rumor ~ OMG, I read that MHC book and I loved it!  It's actually helping me figure out how to make my OC act!  I'm so glad that there's someone else out there who's read that!**

**Holiday ****~ Here's your update!  Read to find out what happened.**

**Dragonfly ~ Yes, I think you should update your fic *hands you a pencil* Go!**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

**September 2, 1899******

**Dear Journal,**

**Well, I just got back from Kloppman's funeral.  It's so hard to believe that that nice gentleman is gone.  Who could be so evil as to kill _him?_**

Secrets held tight to David's hand as a young, well-dressed woman stood in front of them all.  Everyone has showed up at Kloppman's grave to pay their final respects as he was buried.

The woman, looking entirely out of place wearing a lovely light blue dress, while all the other attendants at the funeral were wearing the best of their street clothes.  Which wasn't surprising, they were only poor orphans and runaways after all.

Tears were glistening in her brown eyes as she pushed back a stray piece of her brown hair.  With a deep breath, she began to address them.  "Hello.  My name is Lisa Kloppman, and Edward Kloppman was my father.  I haven't spoken with him in over three years ever since I moved to a wealthy suburb in New Jersey.  He, being the stubborn man he was, refused to leave his 'children', namely all of the newsboys who lived in the lodging house he had purchased when my mother had died, and we parted ways.  We did keep in touch through letters, but I always declined his offers to visit.  I always thought I was too busy to pay him a visit.  Now, it pains me that the next time I saw my father was at the city morgue yesterday after I arrived here."  Lisa stopped speaking for a moment as the tears spilled over her cheeks and she stared down at the casket she had purchased.  "I'm sorry, daddy.  I'm so sorry, I can't believe anyone could do this to you…" she whispered to the ground, though all the children surrounding her could do nothing but hear her apologies.

They all stood in silence for a moment as Lisa knelt down by the casket and stared up into the sky.  Then, all at once, she stood up, wiped her eyes and addressed the crowd once more.  "Now, I would like to invite the one my father called his favorite, Mr. Jack Kelly."

Lisa stepped aside and let a very pale Cowboy take the spot in front of everyone.  "When Ms. Kloppman heah asked me if I'd give da eulogy t'ing fer Kloppman, I couldn't t'ink o' anyt'ing I wanted ta say.  But, as I stand heah in front o' all o' you'se, I have so many feelin's, so many emotions.  I'se jist havin' a hard time getting' dem out."  Jack shuddered as he took a steadying breath.  "Kloppman was moah dan jist da ownah o' da place dat we lived at, he was our friend.  'Membah da time dat Snydah was lookin' fer me an' Kloppman helped me out?  But he ain't he no moah…"

As Jack continued on with his eulogy, the words just coming to him now that he had started, Secrets glanced over at David and squeezed his hand.  "How's Jack doin'?" she whispered.

David grinned half-heartedly, "I swear, Secrets.  This all is just killing him.  And the fact that he was the one who found Kloppman…"

Secrets nodded.  It _was Jack who had found Kloppman murdered._

_That morning, the morning of August 30, Jack had awoken before any of the others and crept downstairs.  Ever since Stress had been found murdered in that alley, Jack had been having nightmares, though the only two who knew about them were David and Kloppman.  That night Jack had dreamt that Stress was calling his name for help as she was being stabbed but all he did was walk on by._

_He had slowly walked down the stairs of the lodging house, eager to tell Kloppman about his most recent dream; Kloppman, like David, had the ability to calm him down and remind him that it **wasn't his fault that his girlfriend had been killed.**_

_"Hey Kloppy?"__ He called as he entered the lobby, knowing that Kloppman would already be up and at work at his desk.  Jack laughed to himself as he saw Kloppman leaned over on his desk, appearing to be fast asleep.  "Kloppy?  Git up awlready, I gotta tawk ta you'se."_

_Jack walked around to the front of his desk and shook Kloppman's arm gently.  When Kloppman didn't stir, he shook him a little more roughly.  Unfortunately for Jack, with the force of the motion, it cause Kloppman's head to loll to the side.  _

_"Oh my Gawd!"__ Jack yelled when he spied Kloppman's face; the face was purely pale, the eyes were wide open in shock and, planted right in the middle of his forehead, was a blood-red kiss mark.  "No!!!!!"_

"I know, Dave.  Foist it was his goil, now Kloppy.  I don't know how he's soivivin'."

"Just barely, Secrets, just barely."

Just then, Jack -- the brave, strong Cowboy -- broke down into tears and started to yell in grief.  "Why?  Foist Stress, den Morris an' now Kloppy!  I sweah, as Gawd as me witness, I'se gonna kill whoevah's doin' dis.  I ain't gonna let no moah people git hoit!  It jist ain't fair!!"

The crowd stood in silence as the one they thought would never fall apart, never break down, began to crumble before their very eyes.

David gasped as he stood up abruptly.  He turned to look at Secrets, who reluctantly nodded.  "I undahstand, Dave."

He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek before sprinting over to Jack's side.  He put his around Jack's shoulder and began to lead him away, making sure to detour around the area where Stress had been buried just two weeks before.

Secrets watched as Lisa Kloppman walked to the front once more, her face showing that she wanted, more than anything, to follow Jack's example and scream out her pain.  But she didn't.  "Thank you all for saying goodbye to my father.  If you care to come with me afterwards, I would be more than delighted to buy you all dinner."  And with that she motioned to the grave digger and his assistants, the three of them who had been watching the funeral from the side, to move forward and to lower the casket into the Earth.

As most of her friends whispered their goodbyes to Kloppman and followed his daughter out of the cemetery, Secrets waited until the gravedigger had lowered the casket and covered it with dirt.  Then, once they shouldered their shovels and walked away, Secrets stood there and plucked a daisy from the ground.  As she tossed the daisy down, her eyes glittered and her voice changed.  "I'm sorry, sir.  But you should have let me into the lodging house that night.  There isn't a curfew that can prevent Kisses from doing what she wants."

She then fell to her knees and clutched her head as a sharp pain soared through it.

Once the pain subsided, about a half an hour later, Secrets pulled herself up and rubbed her temples.  "Goodbye, Mr. Kloppman.  I don't think you deserved to die, and I hope they catch your killer soon," she murmured before turning and beginning to walk back to the Bottle Alley Lodging House, wondering the entire way how a single daisy had been placed on top of Kloppman's grave.  She had been the only one to stay at the gravesite.

***

Once she made her way home, she climbed up the steps warily and crossed her fingers that no one else would have arrived back yet.

She was in luck, for she was, save Mrs. Cook who had declined the invitation to Kloppman's funeral and locked herself in the sick room to grieve by herself, entirely alone.

"Good," she whispered aloud as she removed her journal from under her pillow and began to scribble away all about the funeral, the third funeral she had attended since becoming friends with all the newsies.  She just hoped there would be no more.

As she sat there, debating what to write next – and still wondering how all that blood had gotten all over her journal – Secrets noticed that there was already writing on the next page.

**Layna,**

**I hope you have fun at the funeral today and I am****sorry that that nice man had to die.  But, oh well, that's one less in the way, right?  Isn't that what I told you before?  I think so.  Oh, and say hello to my friend Cowboy for me.  I shall be seeing him soon.  Then _all of this will be over and we can go back to being happy.  I'll be happy, you'll be happy, __we'll be happy._**

**Kisses**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**


	12. Stress the Angel

**Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long to get out the next part, but this story is strange, y'know?  I know exactly how I want it to end, but I couldn't figure out how to do this transition chapter.  But I had a brainstorm during my global environment exam yesterday, and this chapter is the result.  I hope you guys understand what I mean, but, if not, I will post my explanation at the end of the chapter.  Enjoy!**

**Shout Outs:**

**Lange – *bows down to the almighty Lange* Yes, you are better than Miss Cleo!  And, you're right!  There really is no happy ending in store for anyone.**

**Rae-zin – I'm sorry, but if you were looking for a chapter to make your head not hurt, then you're in trouble.  But, I promise, this will be the last confusing chappy!**

**Derby – Hmm, maybe I should kill Skitts in the next chappy *grins evilly* **

**Dragonfly – I'm sorry about killing your Kloppy, but it's better than Race, right?  And you're right, those stupid little comments ff.net made are… well, stupid!**

**Sami – Don't worry, I think there's only one or two chapters left to this story.**

**Act – Hmmm, now… Well, I just re-read the review and it said 'right more NOW', so I guess it's now … now, so I haven't really taken that long to update.  *gotta love my logic, lol***

**Vix – You keep holding onto Jack, and don't let Kisses get him, k?**

**Aki – My penguin is being a little doll!  And I'm sorry about Jack's greasy hair.  Maybe next chappy we'll give him a shower.  *grins at a lovely mental picture***

**Holiday – You know what, maybe a newsies circle of protection around Jack would be a good idea!**

**Emu – You know what, I still love your reviews, even if they are repeats sometimes!  **

**Rumor – I haven't read that yet, but I think I might just start (after I finish re-reading LotR, I'm hooked on that right now!).  I love Mary Higgins Clark!  All of her books are deliciously creepy.  If only I could write like that…**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

**September 28, 1899******

**Dear Journal,**

**O.K., I know that it's too early in the morning _again_****to be writing in you, but I had another nightmare.  I mean, you think they would have stopped since there hasn't been any sign of the "kissy-mark murderer" in almost a month.  But, no.  You know, it has been so quiet ever since Kloppman's death.  ****Denton**** is doing a great job helping Mrs. Cook run both of the lodging houses until we can find a new replacement for the boys'.  Heck, even Jack has begun to smile, every now and then.  He even says that it'll be alright if we start selling papers again, as long as we go in pairs at least.  And David.  He's been just great.  With every passing day, he's spending more time with me and less with Cowboy, now that Cowboy's been able to begin accepting Stress' death.  It seemed like everyone was getting past what had happened and was beginning to move on with their lives.  Until this morning...**

**Maybe it was the quarrel I had last night with David.  We just argued slightly about selling tomorrow.  I wanted to sell with him and at first he didn't want me to go.**

Secrets and David sat on the porch of the Bottle Alley Lodging House, holding hands and talking quietly under the stars.  "I can't believe dat we'se gonna git ta sell tageddah tamorrah, Dave," Secrets murmured as she laid her head on his shoulder.  When he didn't answer her, she picked her head up and looked at David questioningly.  "Right, Dave?"

David stared straight ahead.  "I don't think it's a smart idea for you to go out selling tomorrow, hun."

Secrets stood up suddenly, grabbing her hand out of his.  "What does dat mean?"

He sighed.  He hated it when she had her mood swings.  "Secrets, just because Jack thinks it's safe enough for some of us to go out and earn money, it doesn't mean everyone is.  I would feel a lot better if you weren't walking around town."

"I don't t'ink dat's faih," she huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her back on him.

**But then he changed his mind -- but on one condition...**

David stood up as he reached out and laid his hand on Secrets' shoulders.  "Secrets?  I'm sorry."

Almost at once she melted and turned around to face him.  "Really, Dave?  Does dat mean you'se gonna let me sell tamorrah?  I feel so cooped up stayin' in dis lodgin' house day in an' day out."

David thought about mentioning the time he saw her walking the streets about a month ago, right after Jack told them all to stay in doors, but thought better of it.  "You can come sell with me tomorrow, but—"

"But?  What does but mean?" Secrets' blue eyes narrowed and stared straight into David's.

"Well you may not like this, but Jack is going to sell with us too."

"What?" Secrets yelled as she flung her arms out in a gesture of how much she **didn't like his news.**

David looked taken aback but held his ground.  "I'm sorry, Secrets, but he's got to sell with someone, and he's my best friend."

**After he told me that, I got a little miffed and told him that he should just marry Cowboy already.  Childish, I know, but I was little upset.  I thought he might want to spend the day alone together, but no.  After that I just decided to go to bed and I told him to leave.  I fell to sleep almost instantly, which is really strange for me, now that I think of it.  Maybe that's why I had that nightmare...**

_"Layna…Layna…"_

_Secrets stood alone in the middle of a dark red hallway.  But if she was alone, what was that voice and where was it coming from?  And how did she know her real name?  Only Kisses knew her name._

_"Layna…" came the melodic voice again, as a bright white light lit the end of the hallway._

_Secrets just stared in awe as the white light grew brighter with every step it took closer to where she stood.  When it was barely ten feet away from her, she was able to see a figure, cloaked in white, appear.  "Stress?" she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand._

_The figure laughed quietly.  "It's been awhile since I've been called that," she whispered.  _

_"But…but…you're dead," Secrets exclaimed, trying to move before realizing that she no longer had any control over her feet and must remain planted in front of Stress._

_"Yes, sadly, I'm dead."_

_"But, why—how are you'se heah?"_

_Stress, removed the white cloak from her head, revealing a golden aura around her light brown curls.  "First things first, Layna.  I'm not here to pass judgement, nor blame anyone.  The Lord is my master now and I have learned a lot from him in the short time that I've been in his presence.  I've learned to forgive.  But I haven't forgotten."_

_"Are you'se an angel?  An' what da heck happened ta yer accent?  It was worse den mine when you'se was livin' wit' me in da lodgin' house," Secrets blurted out, acting very calmly for someone in the presence of a ghost._

_Stress laughed again.  "Yes, I'm an angel.  I don't know how I made it to Heaven, but I did, and it sure is a great place.  And, as for my accent, I'm being taught by some of the greatest minds.  Sadly, my poor accent was one of the first things to go when I became enlightened."_

_Secrets nodded.  "Oh, dat makes sense.  But, wait, dat doesn't explain why yer heah.  I mean, you'se have been dead fer ovah a month now."_

_"I know.  And what a month it's been.  Life up here is better than anything they got down there.  But…"_

_"So many 'but''s tonight," Secrets sighed before prompting Stress to continue, "But what?"_

_"Life would be so much better if I had my soul mate with me.  I left that part of me on Earth, so I never really feel whole."_

_"Are ya tawkin' 'bout Jack, Stress?"___

_"Yes, my Cowboy.  It's so lonely without him.  And I never got to say goodbye," Stress' voice became choked up in the memories of her past life.  After she composed herself, she continued to speak to Secrets.  "And that is why I'm here.  How is Jack?  Is he good?  Has he forgotten me?"_

_Secrets pushed aside her ill feelings towards Jack as she tried to answer Stress' questions.  "Well, he's getting' bettah.  But, no, he ain't fergettin' ya any time soon.  He still loves ya an' misses ya so much."_

_"Thank you, Layna.  Thank you.  It's good to know that he's O.K., though.  But it would be so much better if he was with me…" And with those last words, Stress turned around and began to float down the red hallway._

_"Stress?__  Wait!  Who killed ya?  Who's da moiderah?" Secrets yelled after her.  If this really was Stress the Angel, maybe she could tell Secrets who the murderer was so they could prevent any more lives from being taken._

_But Stress ignored her and continued her ascent.  Secrets tried to run after her, but the room began to spin and darken all around her._

_The last thing Secrets remembered before the realization of consciousness hit her was the retreating figure of Stress' faintly glowing specter._

Secrets placed her pen down, trying desperately to push the sickly vision of Stress from her mind as she slipped her journal under her bed.  Since she was planning to sell that day, with or without David, she figured it would be a good idea to get a few more hours of shut-eye before Mrs. Cook's wake-up call.

***

"Rise and shine, girls!" cried Mrs. Cook, as she began to shake the girls awake.  "Whoever plans on going out and selling today, get your bums out of bed."

"Finally, we kin go out an' sell taday.  Race is takin' me down ta Sheepshead taday.  It's been da foist time we'se been deah since da day dey found Stress," Dragonfly paused for a moment, remembering how rough the past few weeks had been, "What 'bout you'se, Hades?" she continued, adressing the girl washing her face at the water pump.

Hades pushed her long dark hair out of her face.  "I t'ink dat me an' Mush are jist gonna walk 'round da city tageddah.  We haven't jist been out walkin' tageddah in ferevah."  She stopped speaking when she noticed that Secrets was still asleep.  "Hey Secrets, ya gotta git up.  It's time ta sell da papes," she announced, shaking Secrets awake from her sound sleep.

Secrets stretched slowly and nodded.  "I gotta stop wakin' up in da middle of da night an' writin' in me joinal," she murmured out loud as she stood up and reached for her brush.

"Hey Secrets?"

She turned around and saw Iris waiting by the door of the bunkroom.  "Yeah Iris?"

"Ya want me ta tell Dave dat you'se'll meet him down at da distribution centah?"

Secrets scowled slightly before pasting a phony smile on her face.  Just thinking about David made her remember that strange dream she had just had.  "Shoah Iris.  T'anks!"

"No problem," she called before she exited the bunkroom with Dice, all the other girls who were running late following behind them.

Secrets finished brushing her hair and tossed the brush on her bunk.  She looked around the room quickly and, making sure that no one else was in the bunkroom, reached for her journal.  She hadn't received a message from Kisses since the day they buried Kloppman, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.  But it did make her nervous, which resulted in her checking her journal at regular intervals to see if a new passage had emerged.

And, this time, it had.

**Layna,**

**See, I told you it would be best for _everyone if the Cowboy was to go.  Never doubt me._**

**Kisses**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

**Author's Note: O.K., I'm gonna just explain what I'm trying to show with this chapter.  If you understood it, go right ahead and leave me a review without reading this part.  If you were kind of lost, don't feel bad.  I'm confused and ****I wrote it!  Anywho, the reason why Secrets had a dream with Stress the Angel in it (it was _only a dream; Stress didn't come down from Heaven to see her) is because the crazy psycho part of her is beginning to blend with the nice, sane part (the part that is unaware of the psycho part).  Since Kisses is so bent on getting rid of Jack, this dream is trying to show Secrets that everyone would be happier if Jack was to join Stress in Heaven, instead of remaining on Earth.  Oh, and the reason why there hasn't been any Kisses entries is that she was appeased once Secrets was happy (when David started spending time with her instead of Jack).  Once David upset her by mentioning Jack, Kisses is re-awoken.  This chapter is the result of Kisses' reawakening._**

Understand now?  Good, now please leave me a review : )****


	13. Iris

**Author's Note:**  Woo Hoo, I'm off suspension! *does a little victory jig* Anywho, this is going to be the third to last chapter.  I was going to make the last chappy next but I just had a brilliant idea for the ending, mwahahaha!  I hope you guys at least enjoy this chappy!

**Shout Outs:**

**Emu**** ~ **Wow, that was a really nice review!  This story is kinda weird in the way I'm writing it.  I know how I want it to begin, I know how I want it to end, but everything else is make up as I go along.  I'm just trying to keep it interesting!

**Rae-zin ~  That's** good, I hope you understand it by the end… Otherwise you might not get the sequel : )

**Derby**** ~  Don't** worry, I was just as confused.  And I don't think there are going to be any more murders.  No, wait, I take that back…  One more person has to go…

**Dragonfly ~ **You got it! *tosses you a candy-coated Racetrack* Awesome-ness!

**Cards ~ **I'm sorry that it was confusing, but you said it was brilliant! *does a victory jig* Thanks!

**Raider** ~ I guess we'll just have to wait and see…

**Mist ~ **Thanks!  I'm glad you got a chance to read it, this really is one of my favorite stories that I'm writing!

**Holiday**** ~ **I'm glad the author's note helped!  And lookee, I updated!  Now it's your turn.  More of _Christmas Station!_

**Dice ~ **I'm glad you liked the author's note too!  I didn't want to leave anyone hanging in that chapter.  That's what this one is for!

**Aki ~** Alex says "wut up?".  Also, you know I would love to see Jack in the shower *grins even more widely* Yum!

**Rumor ~ **You were right, the two sides of her are beginning to combine into one – which only means one thing… Trouble…

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

Secrets re-read the one-line message from Kisses.  _See, I told you it would be best for _everyone_ if the Cowboy was to go.  Never doubt me._  Yes, Kisses was right; she always is.

Quickly looking around the bunkroom to make sure she was alone, all the other girls racing down to the distribution center for the first time in weeks, Secrets picked up her pen and began a new entry in her journal.

**September 28, 1899******

**Dear ****Journal**** -- Kisses,**

**Today will be the day, I promise.  I realize now what that dream meant... Yes.  Today will be the day, the day I send Cowboy up to Heaven to be with his gi--**

"Secrets?"

Secrets' hand jerked and the pen fell to the floor as she jumped.  "Oh my Gawd, Iris.  Ya scared me!"

Iris pushed her glasses up her nose.  "Sorry, Secrets.  I was jist wondahin' if ya wanted me ta tell Dave ta git yer papes fer ya?"

Secrets shook her head as she hastily shut her journal and shoved it under her pillow.  "Dat's awl right Iris, I'se on me way now."

Iris nodded slowly, remaining frozen at the doorway.  "Dat's nice, Secrets," she murmured, not quite paying attention as Secrets grabbed a faded leather pouch that had been hanging on her bunkside and rushed out of the bunkroom.  "Dat's nice..."  Iris waited until she heard the faint slam of the lodging house door before rushing to Secrets' bunk.  Ever since Secrets had come to live in the Bottle Alley Lodging House, Iris had noticed her tendency to faint every now and then -- though truth be told it had been some time since her last spell -- and also how she always had her nose in her trusty journal.  Being a tad bit curious by nature, Iris had been dying to get her hands on the journal.  Now was her chance.

Quickly looking to make sure that Secrets, or anyone else for that matter, was coming back through the bunkroom door, Iris slipped her hand under Secrets' pillow and pulled out the journal.  "What da--?" Iris whispered as she dropped the journal in disgust.  It was covered in spatters of dried blood.  _No, not just spatters_, she realized.  In certain spots, the old book seemed to have been drenched in blood.

***

Secrets and David stood by the side, their hands intertwined, as they waited for Jack to sell his last paper.

"T'anks, mistah," he said, tipping his cowboy hat in the direction of the well-dressed man.

The man nodded, handed Jack a penny, and began to walk off.  Jack waited until the man turned the corner before heading over to Secrets and David.  "Well, I'se done fer da day."

"Took ya long 'nuff," Secrets smirked, her blue eyes boring holes into Jack's.  Subtle she was not; throughout the entire morning's worth of selling, Secrets had given Jack an attitude, distancing herself from him as best as she could. 

"Secrets..." David warned her, trying not to sound too stern in fear of triggering another of her mood swings.  But David was getting a little annoyed, though he was beginning to realize that Secrets would never like Jack.  But that wasn't it, no.  Secrets liked Jack just fine; it was Kisses who had a problem with him.

Secrets just smiled charmingly at David.  "Sorry Dave."

"No, Dave.  I'se da one dat's sorry.  I don't know what it is, but I jist couldn't improve none o' da headlines taday.  I jist can't believe dat it took me dis long ta sell toity papes.  Toity!" Jack said, disbelieving.  It was true that none of the newsies had sold any papers in almost a week, but it was hard to believe that "mister-100-papes-a-day" had a hard time selling thirty.

"Don't even worry about it, Jack.  Secrets," David said, turning to face his girl, "I'm going to run home now and give the money I earned to Mama.  Want to come with me?"

She paused and stared up at the sun in the sky.  It was only mid-afternoon, barely even three.  And she'd never met David's parents before.  But, no.  She had a job to do.  After all, she **had** promised Kisses that today would be the day.  "I'se sorry, Dave, but I got sumt'ing dat I gotta take care o'.  I'll meetcha ovah at Tibby's when I'se done."

David nodded before turning back to Jack.  "How about you, Jack?  Sarah has been asking about you ever since she found out that Stress had died," he added.  David's sister, Sarah, had been Jack's girlfriend for the weeks following the strike before she dumped him to date Snoddy.  That was right about the time that Jack and Stress had gotten together.

Jack slowly shook his head.  "Tell Sarah dat I said 'hi', but I don't feel up ta tawkin' ta her right now.  I t'ink I'se jist gonna head back ta da lodgin' house an' maybe toin in early."

"O.K., well then I guess I'll see you later.  Secrets, I'll be at Tibby's in an hour or two, right?"  David kissed her on her cheek after he saw her nod.  "Atta girl."

"Bye Dave," she whispered in his ear before heading off in the direction of the Bottle Alley Lodging House.

David clapped Jack on his shoulder.  "Don't worry, Cowboy.  Things will all work out in the end, promise."

"I know, Dave.  I know," Jack muttered.  "See ya."  Jack stuck his hands inside his pockets and began to shuffle off to the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House.

Dave waited until neither Secrets nor Jack were in his vision before beginning to head home.  "Things _better_ work out in the end..." he told himself, shaking his head slightly.

Secrets ducked down behind a local merchant and the cart baring his wares as she watched David walk past, lost in his own thoughts.  Once she was sure that he was far enough away, her ice-blue eyes gleaming, her face growing more wicked as Kisses started to take hold of her.  She laughed cruelly, a laugh that did not fit her, as she looked in the leather pouch that she had carried slung over her shoulder the entire afternoon.  Ahh, yes.  Her favorite knife was still inside.  "The time is growing near, Cowboy..." she whispered before turning and running after Jack.

***

"C'mon, Iris," Iris whispered to herself, "ya wanted ta know what was inside dis heah joinal, so read it!"  Then, before she could change her mind, Iris reached down and picked up the journal.  She paused for a moment, staring down at the cover, as chills went up her spine.  Etched on the front leather cover, as if done by a knife, were the words: "Layna + Kisses, forever".  "Dat shoah is creepy..." she noted before slowly opening up the journal to a page somewhere in the middle.  "August 13, 1899.  Deah joinal..." she began as she walked the journal into one of the changing stalls, just in case anyone was to return from selling their papers early.  As far as Iris knew, all of her pals were meeting up at Tibby's after they sell, just like olden times.  She figured she had a couple hours before she had to place the journal back under Secrets' pillow without anyone knowing what she had done.

***

Secrets kept her distance as she continued to follow Jack towards the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House.  Once she watched him enter, she stood just outside the door.

"Aftahnoon, Denton," Jack greeted the man who stood behind the desk in the lobby.

"Hiya, Jack.  Listen, are you going to be hanging around the lodging house today?"

"Yeah, I ain't got no plans right now.  Why?"

"My editor told me yesterday that I had to attend some sort of meeting this afternoon or else I was fired."

"No problem, Denton.  I'll watch ovah da lodgin' house fer ya."

A slow, sardonic grin came to Secrets' face.  "This is almost too easy," she murmured as she turned her back to the door, trying to hide her face from Denton as he exited the lodging house.

It worked.  Denton, too busy straightening the hideously patterned bowtie around his neck, walked right past Secrets without even noticing her.  

Secrets waited for Denton to make it a little further down the street before entering the lodging house and pulling the door tight behind her.  For what she was about to do, she didn't want any witnesses.

***

"September 28, 1899.  Dear Journal -- Kisses, today will be the day, I promise.  I realize now what that dream meant... Yes.  Today will be the day, the day I send Cowboy up to Heaven to be with his gi--" Iris covered her mouth with her hand as she tossed the journal to the side and tried with all her might not to vomit.  Secrets?  The "kissy-mark murderer"?  It can't be...but it is.

Iris leaned her head against the wall and tried to push the images out of her mind.  It was hard to believe, but there it was.  Every excruciating detail...

Shaking her head, letting her glasses fall to the ground, Iris crawled to where she had thrown the journal.  Quickly she leafed through the pages until she found the passage she was looking for.  The last entry Secrets made, only that morning.  "Today will be the day, the day I send Cowboy up to Heaven to be with his gi--".  Iris could only guess what the rest of the entry would have said if she hadn't have interrupted her in the middle of it.  But, right there in front of her, was proof.  Secrets was going to add Jack to her list of ever-growing victims.

And she was the only one who knew... 

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

**Author's Note: ** I figure I should leave one or two more cliffhangers before this story ends… Mwahahaha!


	14. Jack

**Author's Note ~ Well, I'm off my second ff.net suspension – even though I have no clue why I was even suspended the second time.  Oh well, let sleeping dogs lie, eh?  Anywho, just a reminder, this is the second to last chappy – therefore pay close attention to this chappy, k?  That way the ending will make sense.  Cool, huh?**

**Shout Out's ~**

**Cards ~ I know cliffies are evil, that's why they are so much fun : )**

**Dragonfly ~ Iris better do something, I don't want Jack to die either : )**

**Mist ~  Sleep is a good thing!  And, yes, Jack _is too cute *huggles Jack*_**

**Iris ~  I'm sorry to hear about all of those bad things happening to you *hands you a gift wrapped Spot* Feel better!  And I hope you don't mind about me using your character *puppy dog eyes* I just thought she fit in so well with the part.**

**Sami**** ~ You know it!  The two of them are so twisted, though, it's great!**

**Emu**** ~ *gasps* How did you guess my secret?  Yes, I *am* the psychopath! Mwahahahaha!! *watches as all the readers run away* Umm, did I just say all of that out loud?**

**Rae-zin  ~ Yes, as of right now there will be a sequel!  I just need to finish off the last chappy first : )**

**Aki ~  *raises her eyebrow* Are you peeking at my Jack in the shower? *grins* Don't worry, there's enough of him to go around *wink***

**Vix**** ~ Oh no, not another insanity case!  I hope I got this out in time to delay any more of your insanity, lol!**

**Raider ~ I know, right?  Shoot, if that was me I would have so read that journal right away.  Unfortunately, I kinda got killed in the beginning of the story : )**

**Blank  ~**** Evilness is fun!  And Iris was all slick-like reading that journal, hehe.  As for Secrets, dude why is she listening to Kisses?  Weird people, I swear *totally ignoring the fact that I created them, hehe* : )**

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

"I gotta go find Jack an' warn him," Iris whispered to herself as she struggled to get to her feet, the weight of what she had just found out keeping her down on the ground.  "I gotta go find Jack," she announced, louder, more sure of what she had to do.  She had to warn him, she had to stop Secrets...But where would they be?  "Tibby's."  Iris knew that all of the newsies had made plans to meet up at Tibby's, for old time sakes, that afternoon.  They all figured that by selling papers and hanging out down at Tibby's, maybe they could get past all the horror of the past month.

And little had they known that one of their own was responsible all along.  _Secrets..._

Iris laughed hollowly to herself as she pocketed Secrets' journal and hobbled out of the changing stall, her knees shaking too much to keep her from walking normally.  _All along it had been Secrets...It had never occurred to her, or anyone of the others for that matter, that one of them -- a newsie like the lot of them -- could be the person responsible for killing Stress...Morris...Kloppman...  So many innocent lives taken and for what?  Iris thought of the journal in her pocket as she made her way out of the lodging house, the brisk afternoon air calming her down and helping the strength return to her legs.  __There weren't many answers in that journal, but I intend to find out why -- how -- anyone __ could__ do this, let alone her__... _

*******

Secrets smiled in satisfaction as she heard the click of the lock.  It was time.

Pushing a lock of her behind her ear, she removed her leather pouch from her shoulder and peeked her head inside once more.  "Yes, Layna, it's time.  You know what to do," came a voice from her own lips – one she recognized as her own, though it wasn't.  Not really.  But that wasn't important right then…  What was important was the task at hand.

Fighting the electrical pulses coursing through her body, Secrets began to slowly walk up the stairs, heading for the bunkroom of the boys' lodging house.  When she got there, she approached the semi-closed door and pushed it open, drawing Jack's attention right towards the door.

"Secrets?  What are ya doin' heah?" Jack asked, puzzled, as he placed down the crumpled newspaper clipping he was reading and jumped down from the top bunk he was sitting on.

Ignoring his question she pushed passed him and reached for the newspaper clipping.  She knew what she had to do, but sometimes her curiosity was just a bit too strong and she was dying to know what Jack was reading.  Ignoring the embarrassed glare of Jack, dodging to the side as to avoid his snatching the clipping out of her hand, Secrets quickly skimmed the article.  By the time Jack was able to take it back she knew what he had been reading – the article from the New York World published the day that Stress' body was found.  She smiled as she remembered Stress and her message.  "Don't worry, Stress.  I'se gonna help ya out an' send ya yer Cowboy," she thought to herself before looking into Jack's annoyed brown eyes.  "Hey, Jack, ya know what's so funny?" she asked, taking a step away from Jack and looking him up and down.

Jack's cheeks flamed.  Not only was she entering the _boys' lodging house by herself and grabbing at his personal belongings, now she had to give him a once-over?  "No, Secrets.  What's so funny?"_

"Yer sittin' heah, readin' 'bout yer goil, when ya could be seein' her."

"Whaddya mean?" he responded quickly, his heart beginning to flutter.  It couldn't be possible – could it?

"Well, I saw her."

"When?  Wheah?  How?" Jack took a step forward, a step right up into Secrets' face, awaiting her answers.

"I saw her yestahday night, durin' one o' me dreams…" Secrets answered, flinching at their proximity.

Jack slumped his shoulders as any illusion he had in mind deflated.  He should have really known better…  "Dat's O.K., Secrets.  I see her in me dreams too."

"No, it wasn't in a dream.  She woke me up from me sleep an' I saw her, standin' right befoah me," Secrets said, almost pleading with Jack to believe her.

But he knew better than to get his hopes up.  Sighing, he reached out to pat Secrets on the shoulder, in an effort to comfort her.  "Lissen Secrets, wheah didja see--" he began before he was interrupted.

"Don't touch me!" Secrets screeched as she scrambled away from Jack's touch.  "Nooo!" she continued when Jack's arm landed on her shoulder before he hastily pulled it back, watching in horror as Secrets fell back at his touch and landed on the floor of the bunkroom.  

"Secrets?" Jack asked hesitantly, looking down at Secrets' petite, quaking form.

"Me name is Layna, mistah police officah," she whispered, her voice hiding a hint of a lisp, as she lifted her head, allowing her raven tresses to cover her now clouded blue eyes.

"Layna?  Yer name is Secrets.  Ain't it?" Jack couldn't remember for the life of him what Secrets' real name was; Was it Layna?

Secrets pulled herself into a sitting position and brushed her hair from her face.  When she was able to actually see who was standing in front of her, she scooted back and pointed an accusing finger in his face.  "You'se ain't a police officah, you'se Nicolas!"

Jack looked over his shoulder to see if there could be anyone else that she was directing her hysterics toward.  Nope, they were the only two occupants in the bunkroom.  He shook his head, debating how to approach this before huffing in annoyance.  Why couldn't Dave be there to take care of his loon of a girlfriend?  First she turns up at the lodging house when she should have been at Tibby's with the others, then she tries to tell him that she has talked to Stress _after her murder and now this.  And what __was Secrets -- Layna? -- doing at the boy's lodging house -- alone -- anyways?  _

As Jack stood towering over her, Secrets tensed up and glared at him.  "Nicolas?  What are ya doin' heah?  Ya shouldn't be heah!  Kisses is angry atcha an' ya know how she gits when she's mad."

"Secrets?  Who is dis Kisses poison?  An', tell me 'gain, 'bout Stress.  How didja see her if she's de-- dead?" he choked out, his mouth still unable to form the word "dead".  Call it delusional if you'd like, Jack just didn't want to come to terms with the fact that both Stress and Kloppman -- heck, even Morris -- were gone.

But now Secrets didn't answer him.  First she just stared at him, as if she no longer recognized him.  Then she began to laugh -- a cruel, high-pitched laugh that would have suited an elderly crone, not a fragile eighteen year old girl.

The laugh took Jack by surprise and he flinched at the sound.  "Secrets?  Are you'se O.K.?"

"My name is not Secrets, Cowboy.  Don't you know that?"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Oh no, not this again.  "Well, what's yer name dis time?"

"My name is Kisses, and I'm sure you'll remember that before long.  I mean, before I was done with that Stress slut, that Delancey scum and that pitiful old man, they sure as hell knew my name," Secrets smirked as she sat crossed leg on the floor of the bunkroom, drawing the leather pouch, with her knife still inside, onto her lap.

Jack narrowed his eyes and stared down at her.  "What didja jist say?"

"You heard me, Cowb-- Nicolas, I tried ta warn ya.  Now Kisses is really mad an' she's a comin' fer ya.  You've been a bad boy an' you'se gonna be punished!"  Once again, this time in the middle of her sentence, Secrets' eyes flashed and her tone of voice abruptly changed.  If Jack didn't know any better, he would have thought that he was dealing with more than one person.

But he wasn't -- he was dealing with just one.  And she was driving him crazy!

He threw his hands up into the air.  "Dat's it, I give up," he said, frustrated, turning his back on the still-sitting Secrets.  He needed this insanity like he needed a bad headline.

As she watched him walk away, Secrets slowly stood up.  Then, with an evil glint in her eyes, she took off at full speed, charging straight at Jack.  "Don't you'se walk away from me, Nicolas!" she yelled before tackling Jack and knocking him down on the ground.

_Clunk._

Secrets smiled and climbed off of Jack when she saw heard the crack of his head against the floor and saw his eyes loll into the back of his head.  Nicolas wasn't going anywhere now...

With a smirk and a quick toss of her mane, she got to work in securing her captive.  She couldn't risk him getting away from her again.  Kisses was right -- Nicolas was a bad boy and he had to go...

***

To Iris the road to Tibby's never seemed so long.  "C'mon, hurry," she whispered harshly to herself as she urged herself forward, eager to get to Tibby's though not too eager to confront Secrets.  What was she planning to do and what would happen if those plans were thwarted?  Iris didn't want to know.  But still she pressed on.

When she was only a block away from the cozy little restaurant, she rushed forward as her eyes spied one of the three people she needed to find.  Right in front of her, his hand resting on the handle of Tibby's front door, was David.

"Dave?" came her strangled cry as she stopped dead in her tracks, surprised that she had found at least one of them.  She didn't know what she would have done if none of them were at Tibby's.

David dropped his hand and turned to look down the end of the block.  "Iris, is that you?"

She nodded slowly, her feet glued to the ground.  Now that David was standing right there, she didn't know how to tell him. 

David noticed her hesitation and began to walk towards Iris.  "Are you allright, Iris?  You don't look so good," he added once he was directly in front of her.  Her normally bright brown eyes were clouded behind her glasses and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying as the shock of everything she found out began to wear off.  "Iris?"

But she couldn't answer.  Instead of looking into David's blue eyes, Iris removed her journal from her pocket and flipped to a random page.  It really didn't matter what page she landed on since the entire journal was full of incriminating statements.  "Dave, I t'ink ya should read dis," she whispered as she handed him the journal.

David blanched when he saw the dried blood crusted on certain pages and the binding on the book, but nevertheless took the book from Iris and began to read it.  "'_Layna --  I'm sorry, so sorry.  I blundered once more. ** It's just that I was so anxious after seeing David treat you -- us -- that way, that I took my anger out on the wrong one.  Damn, all I wanted to do was dispose of the one that turns your Dave against you, and I messed up again.  I'm sorry, but, after all, it was his fault.  If only he had let me get to Cowboy, I wouldn't have had to take his life.  Oh well, what's one less?  That just makes it all the more easier to me to get to my target.  Next time.  Next time...  Kisses'.  What does this mean, Iris?  Who's journal is this?  And who is this 'Kisses' person?" David asked, eagerly going through the journal as if the answers to his questions were written in the same neat print on the next page.**_

"I t'ink ya know who da joinal belongs ta, Dave," Iris whispered.

"Layna...That's Secrets' name..." David murmured aloud.

"Yeah, an' dat _is Secrets' joinal.  I know dat it ain't nice or nuttin' but I noticed dat she's awlways writin' in dat deah joinal an' I guess me curiousity got da best o' me cause when she left ta meet ya down at da distribution centah, I went ta wheah I saw her hide da joinal an' I began to read it.  I nevah expected ta learn awl dat, t'ough..."_

"Learn what, Iris?  I'm afraid I'm a little lost here."

Iris sighed.  She was having a hard enough time trying to come to grips with what she had discovered.  Did she really expect Secrets' boyfriend to understand it right away?  "Dave, I t'ink dat ya should read da last entry in dis joinal."

David nodded as he turned to the last page with writing on it.  Iris knew that he had finished reading the entry when his normally ruddy face lost all of it's color and his normally running mouth dropped, and remained, wide open.  "Wha--wha--wha--?" he stuttered, his right hand clutching Secrets' diary tightly.

Iris felt a twinge of guilt at showing David the journal; Secrets _is his girlfriend after all.  "Nevah mind, Dave, I'll figah dis out meself," she whispered, holding her hand out to regain posession of the journal._

But David didn't hand her the journal; instead he clutched it to his chest and muttered "Jack."

"What 'bout Jack, Dave?" Iris wondered, trying to get David to focus and stop looking so destroyed.

"Jack... Secrets is going to hurt Jack... We have to warn him!" David accented his statement by stomping his foot onto the cobblestone road, as if he was letting loose all of his frustrations in that one angry motion.

Before he could turn and do something -- anything -- Iris threw out her hand and rested it on his shoulder.  "Wheah's Jack?"

"I don't know, I don't know..."

"Whaddya mean, ya dunno?  Dis is serious, Dave!" Iris cried shrilly as she leaned in and stared at David.  "T'ink... What did Jack say aftah ya finished sellin' papes taday?  Did he say he was gonna meet up witcha at Tibby's or what?"

David anxiously ran his fingers through his curly hair, trying to remember exactly where Jack said he was going when the three of them -- Jack, Secrets and himself -- had parted ways earlier that evening.  All at once he snapped his fingers, causing Iris to jump back in surprise.  "I remember!  Jack said he was going to head back to the lodging house and turn in early."

Iris, after her start, regained her composure before grabbing onto David's arm.  "Well, den, what are we waitin' heah fer?  Let's go!"

**^*^*^*^*^*^*^**

**Author's Note ~ Wow, there's only one more chapter left. *shakes head in disbelief* I'm so sorry to see this story go.  I should have the last chappy for you really soon, unless ff.net decides to suspend me again.  Wish me luck!**


	15. End

**Author's Note: Well, well, well… I guess that's all, eh?**

~*~*~*~*~*~

_My, my, what a crick in me neck, Jack thought drowsily to himself as he tried to raise his left hand up to massage his neck.  "What da..." he mumbled out loud when he failed in moving his arms.  He slowly opened his eyes, fighting off the faint pain coming from his backside._

"Up so soon, Nick?" Secrets hissed, leaping up from the bunk she had been perched on, pulling her knife from her pouch before doing so.

_Nick?  All at once the memory of how Secrets caught him off guard and how he fell down, hitting his head on the floor, came rushing back at him.  __No wondah me head hoits, he noted sarcastically as he distinctly remembered the fall and the loud clunk his head made before he blacked out.  But, who is this Nick character?  That's what she had called him right before she lunged at him; but what did she mean?  And what was she playing at?   Something was **definitely not right.**_

Standing across the room, her mouth curving into an uncharacteristic smirk at his obvious discomfort and puzzlement, Secrets fingered the blade and spoke to him .  "Nicky, Nicky, Nicky...  Why didja have ta go an' read me joinal?  Why didja hafta ask me 'bout Ma an' Pa an' Eddie?  We could have been friends, jist like me and Kisses-- Damn!" she swore as she ducked her head for a moment, dropping her knife in that instant.  After a few seconds of eerie silence, a few seconds that did nothing to help Jack get away from this child-like version of a demented Secrets, she lifted her head, her once-gleaming blue eyes now clouded over, as she bent down, retrieved her knife and began to make her way to where Jack sat tied in his chair.

Jack began to tremble in his bonds.  _Dis__ can't be happenin'  his brain screamed over and over again as Secrets -- Kisses -- Layna -- __it -- stalked closer and closer.  Which meant the long, blood-stained knife gripped tightly in her right hand, was growing closer and closer to him as well.  If it wasn't such a drastic situation, Jack would have to laugh.  After all that time -- hiding in the lodging house, taking precautions by not selling -- it turned out that the murderer had been there all along.  For Jack wasn't as dense as he normally let on -- he knew now who had killed Stress and Kloppman and Morris.  He only wished he had figured it out sooner..._

As all the thoughts -- thoughts of how mingled with flashes of anger at the fact that he hadn't seen any of this coming -- swirled around his mind, Jack stared in disbelief at the knife, clasped tightly in  her tiny hand.  Bloodstained... covered with the blood shed by his girlfriend, his mentor and his adversary... And soon enough, there would be a new layer of blood on the knife... his own...

At that realization - the realization that he was going to die in a matter of minutes, at the hands of some deranged lunatic that he himself had taken in - Jack felt some of his courage return.  "Secrets, ya ain't gonna get away wit' dis an' ya know it."

Her dull blue eyes showed some life as she paused for a moment and smiled at her captive.  "That's the beauty of my plan, _Cowboy.  It doesn't matter if __I don't get away with it because __Layna will be happy.  She'll have someone to love and someone to love her in return.  She'll have a fine life -- Isn't that the life you newsies lead?  A fine life?" Secrets, under the entire spell of Kisses' now dominant personality, sneered as she ran her finger across the blade, the shadow of the childhood Layna disappearing entirely as she acknowledged that he was Jack and not Nicolas.  "Fine life, indeed.  But, no worries.  Once your gone, we'll be happy and she can get rid of this Secrets person.  She can be Layna again..."  She paused once more when she noticed that Jack's eyes were glued to the knife.  "Sharp, ain't it, Cowboy?  I'd never know, actually.  Never got stabbed myself.  You'll have to tell me how it feels before you die."_

He lifted his eyes from the knife and stared her down.  "I ain't gonna tell ya nuttin'!"

Secrets giggled, a high-pitched laugh that only went to encourage her aura of madness.  "Isn't that brave, Cowboy.  You want to die proud, huh? You're not even going to try to plead with me?"  She continued when he made no sound, "Stress tried to plead with me, you know."

"Yer a liah, Secrets.  I knew -- know -- Stress an' I know she would nevah give ya da satisfaction o' grovelin' at yer feet," he spat out, once more struggling in his bonds at an attempt to get at Secrets, completely forgetting about the knife she held in her hand.

Pausing momentarily, placing her knife against her own cheek in a gesture of amusement, she smiled.  "You know what, Cowboy?  Why don't you just ask her yourself?  I mean, when you meet up with her on the other side, you know.  I wonder where she's waiti-- Did you hear that?" Secrets turned her head to the side and listened briefly before dismissing whatever it was with a careless swing of her knife.

But he _had heard the noise -- it sounded exactly as if someone had been knocking roughly on the lodging house door.  He only prayed that who ever it was got upstairs in time.  In the mean time, he figured it might be a good idea to try and stall Secrets.  "But why?  Why didja do it, Secrets?" _

Secrets turned her head back and glared at Jack.  "Oh, I think you know why, Cowboy."

***

"Damn!" David cried hoarsely when his attempts to open the lodging house door failed.  They were too late; the door was locked.  Taking his frustrations out on the weathered wood, he pounded against it with all of the strength that his wiry frame could muster.

"Dave, y'know dat ain't gonna do no good, right?" Iris whispered as she began to fiddle with the back of her set of braids.

"And I'm sure that by doing your hair you're going to save the day, Iris?" he asked sarcastically, trying once more to fiddle with the door handle.

"Y'know it!" she cried when she found what she was reaching for in her hair -- a rusty, old bobby pin.  Perfect for picking certain locks, she grinned as she set to work on opening the door.

And, for the first time since he had met up with Iris earlier that afternoon, David's thin lips broke into a smile when he heard the tell-tale click of a door being unlocked.  "Come on, Iris, let's go see what's going on!" he said to her before grabbing her left hand and running into the lodging house.  Something told him that they didn't even have a second to spare.

***

Jack gulped when he felt the intense heat of her gaze.  Maybe it wasn't that smart of a plan after all.

"I truly think you know why, Cowboy," she hissed, "and I think you also understand that this is _all your fault.  That's what you've been contemplating ever since your precious girl was killed, right?  You knew __somehow that it was because of you that they all died," she added, focusing on Jack, ignoring everything else around her.  Including the tell-tale sounds of two people entering the building and running up the lodging house stairs._

But Jack didn't care anymore -- Secrets had just confirmed his own worst fear, even if he had no idea what that "c" word she had just used meant: It _was all because of him that three people he knew -- two of which he cared for tremendously -- were murdered.  If he had to live with that knowledge and that guilt, wouldn't it be better for him just to meet the same fate that he had thrown upon the others?  "Yer right," he whispered, going limp in the chair, no longer struggling against the bonds.  He knew it was his time to die.  Besides, how on Earth would the footsteps reach him in time?_

"That's one thing I'm glad you learned before I sent you to be with Stress, Jack," murmured Secrets -- the _true Secrets, once again in control of her body -- as she stood over Jack and raised the knife over her head, "Kisses is always right."   But, right before she had a chance to thrust the knife downwards, someone -- or, actually, two someone's -- came crashing through the bunkroom door._

"Secrets, no!"

Jack's head perked up and Secrets tensed as she turned around and watched David rush into the room, followed shortly by Iris.  Before anyone had a chance to react, David leapt forward at Secrets, throwing his entire body weight into the jump.  Once he made contact with Secrets, he knocked her over, bringing her down the the ground.  Unfortunately, as she fell, her hand slipped and she plunged the knife into David's left shoulder.

But David didn't notice at first; instead of the blood blossoming onto his faded blue shirt, David looked down on the girl he pinned to the ground, staring into her clouded blue eyes.  "Secrets?" he asked quietly.

"Pa, I didn't mean it!  I nevah wanted ta go wit' dat man.  I nevah wanted ya an' ma ta die.  I'se sorry," she began slowly, before wailing out loud.  She pulled on the knife, still clutched in her right hand, until the blade was out of David's flesh and proceeded to toss it to the side before wrapping her arms around his neck.  "I'se sorry, Pa!"

Meanwhile, as Jack watched in awe at another one of Secrets' personality transformations, Iris rushed to his side and began to untie the rope.

"Iris, I don't know what ta say," he murmured, one eye on the floor where David was trying to keep his left side steady as to not aggravate the wound, while still comforting the sobbing child-like Secrets.

"Just say dat it's ovah, Cowboy," Iris answered, pausing to pull him to a standing position before pulling a sheet off of a nearby bunk and walking over to David.

Jack watched as Iris then helped David to his feet and began to wrap the sheet around his injury.  Running a hand through his fear-induced-sweat-soaked hair, Jack continued to watch as Secrets remained on the floor, even after David's body was lifted up off of her.  Before answering, he thought briefly of Stress... of Kloppman... hell, even of Morris... and he smiled grimly.  "Ya know what, Iris. I t'ink it is ovah."

~*~*~*~*~

**Author's Note: Or maybe not…Want an epilogue to tie the ends altogether?  Leave me a review.  And, since the epilogue is just about written already, it won't be a month and a half 'til the next update, promise :)**


	16. Epilogue

Author's Note: Hmm, 1.5 months equals 2 years. Oops. Well, better late than never, I say. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and here's the epilogue :

* * *

David winced slightly as he tried to open the door to the Manhattan Newsboys' Lodging House with his left hand. 

Iris clucked her tongue as she reached around him and opened the door for him. "Dave, didn't that doc tell ya not to use your left arm for another coupla weeks? I mean, that wasn't no pape cut or nothing. She took a whole chunk of your shoulder out with that knife."

"I know, I know. I just thought I'd give it a try," he smiled sheepishly as he entered the door and waved hello to Mr. McDougal, the man who was now running the lodging house, since Denton had gone to Jersey on some sort of assignment.

"How are things there, young David? How's your arm?" he asked, his voice rich with a lovely scottish accent.

"It's still attached," he quipped before speaking seriously, "Mr. McDougal, do you know if Jack is in?"

Mr. McDougal nodded, his brown eyes glinting behind his glasses. "Jack has been waiting for you to return from Unica State all day."

"Good. Come on, Iris. I'll tell you all about it after we find Jack," he said, turning to Iris and taking her left hand into his right.

"Sounds good to me, Dave," she smiled before following him up the stairs. She smiled sadly to herself as she remembered the last time the two of them had run up the lodging house stairs -- the day they stopped Secrets and sent her to Unica State Hospital.

"Jack?" David asked quietly as he slowly widened the bunkroom door and peeked his head inside. He grinned slightly when he spied Jack lying down on a bunk, reading the afternoon edition of _The World_.

Jack picked his head up and, upon seeing who had entered the bunkroom, folded the paper in front of him. "Dave? Iris? How are you guys?" He slowly climbed out of the top bunk he was lying on and approached the pair. Jack looked at David and awkwardly tried to give him a one armed hug, making sure David's arm wasn't aggravated.

David smiled impishly before throwing his right arm around Jack's neck. "How are you feeling, Jack?

Jack nodded as he back out of David's arm. "Better, I guess. How about you?"

"As good as can be expected, I guess," David replied as Iris rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You guys are hopeless," she said as she continued to shake her head. "Sounds like you haven't seen each other in years. It's only been three days."

Three days. Though three days only translates to a mere seventy-two hours, to both Jack and David, the time seemed to last an eternity. It was only three days ago that truth about Layna Kotliar was discovered and she was taken by the authorities to Unica State Mental Hospital for further study. It was only three days ago that the truth about Layna's parents death, her role in Nicolas', Stress', Morris' and Kloppman's murders and the identity of Kisses came to light.

But, whether it was three days or three thousand, all those involved knew they would never forget the occurrence of the summer of 1899. Especially not Jack, David or Iris.

"So," Jack began, breaking the silence that had fallen over the bunkroom, "how was your visit to Unica State? Did you -- did you _see_ her?""

David looked at Iris before speaking. "Yeah, Jack. It took some convincing to let us see her, but Iris was perfect. Right on cue with the waterworks and everything," he said to Jack, before returning his gaze to Iris and her blush-stained cheeks. When he realized that a second hush had fallen over the room, this time somewhat awkward, David smiled sadly at Jack. "They had her in a room by herself. Small and dark, it was."

Jack nodded slowly and fiddled with the knot on his bandana. "Did she say anything to you, Dave?"

The smile faded from his face. "Yeah, Jack. She asked if Nicolas was mad at her."

"That it?"

Seeing how difficult this was for David, Iris cut in. "That was it, Cowboy. To be honest with ya, she didn't even recognize me and Dave. And, all she did when the nurse introduced us was smile shyly and mention that Kisses didn't like her playing with strangers."

David turned away and, as he did, Jack would swear that there were tears in his eyes. Iris, also quick to notice the sadness that had washed over David, laid an arm on his non-injured shoulder. Then, mimicking the words Jack had muttered that fateful night, Iris said, "Ya know what, fellas? I think _now_ it is over."

And, again, there was silence.

* * *

And, that, I promise you, is the end. Finally. 


End file.
